Moonless Nights
by Chirakka
Summary: Posted by request of Rikkii...Lotsa OC's and stuff about demons, i dun really remember. Wrote a long time ago, haven't read since then, and I know I'm horrible at summaries. And yes, main char. is once again a girl.
1. Default Chapter

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters, concepts, names and related indicia. They are copyright (c) Masashi Kishimoto. I forget where this fic was going... I'll need to find the rest of the chapters on one of the discs lying around my comp. and post them. Until then, here's what was saved from the purge! (my comp crashed from too much anime downloading :( )_

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She hunched forwards, breathing heavily as the pain slowly drained away, leaving her alone in the darkness. She felt the cold chains soothing her skin around her wrists, ankles and neck, retraining her. She remained hunched over for a few more moments, before reaching for the keys and unlocking herself, standing shakily and moving towards the door. Although she hated this, at least this time she had something to look forwards to. This morning she would be placed onto a three cell gennin team and meet her new sensei.

The door opened silently and she stepped out into another room, making her way slowly up the stair and pushing through another door into the kitchen. Her house was small, but with the money she had it was all she could afford. A team of Anbu had found her alone in the rain a few years ago, with little memory of how she had gotten there, and had taken her back to Konoha to live as a shinobi. Once they found out her secret, there was no one who wanted to take care of her and she had been forced to live alone since the age of nine.

A small amount of sunlight was breaking over the horizon, flooding into her house. She brushed a few strands of dark red hair from her eyes and flopped back on one of the kitchen chairs, still breathing heavily. After recovering fully, she moved towards the bathroom, grabbing her usual outfit and entering.

She looked in the mirror, frowning slightly. She had small, delicate features and smooth skin, framed by dark redish purple hair which complimented her strange, red eyes. Her hair constantly covered her left eye, hanging down and stopping just before her chin, the ends neatly feathered. Her eyes seemed perpetually angry, because along with her incredible beauty came her fierce temper. She wasn't loud or overly serious, but if you annoyed her, she had little patience and would promptly silence you.

Flicking her hair from her eyes, which did nothing to help, she slipped off her outfit, pulling on another. It consisted of heavy black shorts that reached down to her knees and had a dark red lining on the bottom edge. She pulled on a black t-shirt, the sleeve and collar lined with the same deep red to match her hair, and quickly brushed her hair, stepping out of the bathroom and back into the sunlight.

Having spent the entire night up, her skin was pale, small bags under her fiersome eyes and an all over sickly look which took away from her looks, but she could do nothing about it. She slipped on a pair of sandals, grabbing her Konoha head-protector uneventfully and stepping outside, slamming the door roughly behind her.

Out of all the Acadamy students, she had been the least enthused in recieving the symbol of the Konoha shinobi. Sha had simply accepted her passing through the classes, taking a protector and leaving. Quite frankly, she didn't care in the least. She looked up at the sky as she headed towards the acadamy, it was going to be another steamy, hot Konoha day.

As she neared the Acadamy, she glaced at a boy speaking to his parents about graduating from the Acadamy. They were speaking excitedly as the boy flashed his forehead protector around, grinning widely. She sped up, pushing through the doors and heading down the hall, her hands in her pockets as she turned into the room she had been instructed to meet in.

She was one of the first ones in there, only a few other Acadamy students waiting ecitedly for Iruka-sensei to announce the teams. Actually, she noticed, Iruka was nowhere to be seen, his usual desk empty, without so much as a paper on it. She silently took a seat at the back of the class, away from the other few students. She sat back, closing her eyes and trying to relax her tired body, dozing lightly as the class slowly filled with more students. When she opened her eyes a few minutes later, the class was almost completely full, although there were still a few people missing.

She spotted a crowd of girls crowding around one person in particular, one she knew to be Uchiha Sasuke. She felt nothing towards him, she rarely felt any emotion at all except anger or sarcasm. Looking around the room, she noticed a few others. There was Uzumaki Naruto, probably the most easily recognizable, Nara Shikamaru, asleep as usual on the desk beside his friend Chouji, who was munchin wildly on a bag of chips. Further down sat Hyuga Hinata, looking over at Naruto nervously, a little ways from her sitting Yamanaka Ino, speaking with a bunch of girls. There was no one speaking to her, they never did. Perhaps they were afraid of her, but she doubted it. She just plain never bothered to make friends, and so she had none. She knew their names and they knew hers, sometimes a few words would pass between them, but she didn't really care.

Her eyes shifted to the front of the class as Iruka appeared, rearranging a pile of papers as he made his way to the front of the class, holding up a hand for silence. The silence was almost immediate, the students giving their full attention. Despite her uninvolvement, her stomach squirmed slightly, today she would meet the people she would be forced to team up with for the next few years possibly. She hoped they would be easy to get along with. Or better, that they weren't freakishly strong and made her look like a weakling.

"Today you will be put on to your team, officially graduating from the Ninja Acadamy. There will be ten teams of gennin, with a total of thirty gennin, three to a team, and most likely two males and a female to each team. Listen carefully for your name to be called, I won't be repeating it again," said their sensei. The air was thick with anticipation as he began calling off the teams.

"Team one will consist of Arato Kazumi, Etsuku Denbe, and Simizu Ken. Team two is Saigo Zenshin, Yunakawa Atasuke and Ryusaki Yuki. Team three is Oyama Takuya, Yano Riku and Takasu Sora. Team four is Murkami Aya, Nagano Tango, and Kuno Yutaka. Team five is Izumu Shizue, Kuroki Midori and Idane Ryuu..."

There were various cheers and whispers or groans passed through the room as he continued listing off the teams. "Team six is Inokuma Kimiku, Nittu Osamu and Nanami Hikaru. Team seven is Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto-"

There was a loud shout of triumph, interupting Iruka. "- and Uchiha Sasuke." this was followed by an overexaggerated groan as Naruto hit the desk dejectedly.

"Team eight," he announced, ignoring the interruption, " will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata. Team nine is Amakaze Raiko, Kageri Shike... and Kasumi Izumi."

Izumi looked around, unsure of who her team mates were. She had never heard of them before, and after a few moments of searching, she gave up, leaning back. Team nine, huh? she thought. With Shike and Raiko.

"And Team ten will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. I will call the teams up in reverse order to pick up some papers which include information on your new sensei's and where to meet them. Team Ten plese come forwards."

Team ten, or two of its members at least, stepped forwards, walking down to the front of the room. Soemone pushed Shikamaru, waking him up where he grumbled something about the whole thing being too troublesome before slowly making his way to the front. Izumi agreed with him, this was troublesome. The three new gennin looked over the papers before leaving the room in silence. All eyes turned back to Iruka.

"Team nine please come here," he ordered. Izumi remained seated for a moment, before pushing herself up, flicking her deep red hair from her eye and moving towards the front of the class. She caught sight of her other two team mates, two boys the same age as her. She followed the boy with black hair as he took the paper and led them out of the room in silence as well. They paused outside of the door, reading over the paper.

'I can't believe I got stuck with you," muttered the dark-haired boy. He was glaring angrily at the other boy, who had deep blue hair, almost black but not shiny, instead navy blue like looking at a shadow within shadows, unnaturally dark. He grinned at the black-haired boy.

"I can. This should be interesting," he said. He turned to Izumi.

"I'm Amakaze Raiko," he said, introducing himself.

"Izumi," she said curtly. The other boy folded the papers.

"I'm Shike," he said quietly, eyeing her. She turned slightly, facing down the hallway.

"We're supposed to meet our sensei at Training Field four, but it doesn't say who he is. Or she," said Shike, adding the last part as an afterthought.

"Ugh, I hope we don't get Gai sensei. I rather put up with you than with his eyebrows," said Raiko, shivering in disgust. Izumi, being antisocial as she was, said nothing. There was an odd tension between these two that she could feel strongly.

"Let's go," said Shike, turning down the hall. She walked in silence beside them as they slowly picked their way towards the end of town, heading towards training field four. There was a young man with raven black hair leaning against a tree casually, a small hawk on his shoulder, and Izumi moved towards him until the other two stopped, calling out to him.

"What are you doing here, Daisuke?" asked Shike, standing about ten feet from the jounin. Daisuke raised his head, frowning.

"I could ask you the same... I'm meeting my new team here." he said.

"You, a sensei?" said Raiko, snorting.

"Shut up," muttered Daisuke, scowling. "And what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're meeting your sensei today as well."

Realization seemed to dawn on the three boys and their faces paled. "Dai-Daisuke... What team number do you have?"

"Team Nine," he replied.

"Great," snorted Raiko, throwing up his hands. "Hello, sensei."

"Oh God no," muttered Daisuke, sinking to the ground. 'Why me? Why did I get stuck with you two?"

This is a Jounin sensei? thought Izumi. Daisuke's hawk stretched it's wings, readjusting itself on his shoulder.

"I got two guys who can only think about killing eachother and... even better. You're Izumi, right?"

"Yes," she said curtly, flicking her hair annoyingly from her eyes again. Daisuke seemed to shrink as he looked over his team.

"Great," he muttered, looking at her. She glared at him and he sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Well, I suppose we should try to get along until the next chuunin exam and I can get rid of you. So... We'll go around and each of you will tell us about youself, likes, dislikes, intrests, goals... I'll go first. My name is Kurome Daisuke, I'm twenty years old and a Jounin of four years. I like my hawk, Akame, and I dislike children, weakness and Kumogakure. My intrests include training and sleeping, and I have a short temper, so don't bother me too much. I have no goals."

He turned to Shike, who was leaning against another tree, arms crossed over his chest. "I'm Kageri Shike, fourteen years old. I like training and fighting, and I dislike Raiko. There's not much that intrests me, and my only goal is to become stronger and join the Anbu."

Daisuke nodded, turning to Raiko who had fallen back onto the grass, his hands behind his head. "My name is Amakaze Raiko, fourteen years old. I like training, the colour blue, and relaxing under the stars. I dislike Shike, ramen and stupid or weak people. Goals... My goal is to learn all of Konoha's jutsus and becomw a hunter-nin."

Daisuke nodded again and finally turned towards her. She felt like the odd one out in the group, the other three seemed to know eachother fairly well, but they knew nothing of her. She flicked her hair form her eyes again, leaning back against a tree. "My name is Kasumi Izumi and I'm also fourteen years old. There are not many things I enjoy, aside from sleep when I can get it. My list of dislikes is too long to cover fully, but some of my dislikes are loud noises, hot weather, annoying people, fighting, being sick so often and bright lights or colours. My goal in life is to rmember what happened to me before I came to Konoha. I also hate sleep."

"Huh, how can you hate sleep and like it at the same time? And what do you mean, 'before I came to Konoha'?" asked Raiko, tilting his head to better view her.

"You wouldn't get it," she replied simply, ending the session. Daisuke sat back, sighing.

"Now that that's over with, I bet you are dying to test eachother's strengths. What do you say to a free-for-all, every man for himself battle?"

"Sure," said Shike, glaring at Raiko.

"Yeah," said Raiko.

"What about you, Izumi?"

I know I shouldn't, I have no enrgy left. I'll pay for it later if I fight now, bu I don't want to look weak in front of them. "I... Fine."

"Great, this way I can relax," said Daisuke, leaning back against the tree. "But, Izumi, don't you even have your weapons pouch?"

"I never use weapons... I already have everything right here," she said, holding up her hands. It was true, unless required, she had never used shuriken, kumai or senbon at the Acadamy.

She felt the other two gennin staring at her interestdly, wondering about her attacks. She had never needed to seriously fight in the acadamy, so she had never lost control, but this was different. If she lost control of it here, Daisuke would find out, and eventually, so would the Hokage.

"Are you alright to fight right now? You look a little... sick," asked Shike, eyeing her.

"I'm fine, mom," she retorted sarcastically. Raiko snorted at Shike and stood as well. Daisuke looked up at his new team.

"Well, go do whatever. I'm tired so stay around this training field where I can keep track of you, so go ahead whenever your ready."

"Shike, I'll deal with you later. Let me..." Raiko pulled out four kunai and dashed at Izumi. He was fast, but she was faster and managed to flip back and face him properly in silence. She felt a familiar twinge in the back of her neck as she struggled within her mind, trying to restrain herself. She was very worn out from this morning and knew she would either have to lose or release it, and there was no way she was going to lose.

She took a step forwards, but suddenly fell to her knees, clutching her head in pain that flashed through her mind violently, tearing at her nerve and threatening to overthrow her mind and body completely. She felt her mind slowly slipping as she struggled to keep control, feeling an unfamiliar force burning through her. She looked down at her hands and noticed her nails forcing out into points, almost like claws, and she tried to hold it back further.

'Are you alright, Izumi?" asked Raiko, abandoning the battle and stepping forwards.

"Don't come any closer!" she growled, her hands clutching her head again. Her feathery red hair completely covered her face, hiding the animal-like eyes that she was now showing. Her body relaxed eventually, before she broke into a coughing fit. She covered her mouth, hunching over and gasping for breath between coughs, eventually calming down again. As she pulled her hand away, she noticed it was speckled with tiny droplets of blood, which she quickly wiped away.

"I can't..." she gasped. After regaining her breath, she pushed herself up shakily, her hands wrapped across her stomach as she faced her sensei.

"I need to go," she rasped, clutching her stomach in pain. Daisuke looked up.

"Already? You haven't even fought yet. If you think you're going to lose, than forfeit," he said. Something inside her snapped.

"Ugh... You just don't get it do you? I need... I need to..." she broke off, glaring at her new sensei before turning and vanishing, dashing back into the village, back to her own house and closing the door behind her, leaning on it for a few moments before slumping to the floor.

It had been getting worse steadily for the last while, and she knew that sooner or later she would need to tell someone about it. If she fully lost control, the results would be disasterous. She closed her eyes for a moment, calming herself before deciding to continue keeping it a secret. Someone would find out sooner or later, so why bother?


	2. 2

"Another mission?" asked Shike, yawning widely. The three gennin had now been together for a month, and had managed to bond slightly more.

"What is it this time, weeding a garden? Finding a lost pet?" muttered Izumi, glaring at her sensei.

"Actually, no," he replied. His hawk shifted, preening itself happily. "You three are rookie gennin, but out of the teams made this year, you three are the strongest, the elite."

"Heh, then why is the number one rookie on team seven?" asked Raiko.

"The Uchiha may be the most talented overall, but working together, this team is by far the strongest. And you work fairly well together."

"Get to the point," said Shike, eyeing his sensei.

"Right. This mission is a high 'B' ranked mission, a few levels above any you've been on so far. Our job is to escort a group of people, along with the help of a few strong Waterfall and Sand gennin, from the Wave country to the Hidden Stone, and ensure they reach their destination without detection," said Daisuke casually.

"Why are we going to be working with the Sand and Waterfall?" asked Izumi.

"Well... Our clients were the ones who hired the other gennin, but they also said they wanted to test a few other village's strengths. But there's another catch. The road we are taking to the Hidden Stone is heavily monitered by groups of thieves and bandits, some of which are quite powerful, at chuunin level."

"So we have to escort a few guys to Iwagakure without these bandits knowing? That's impossible," stated Shike matter-of-factly.

"Yes, and no. We should try our best to avoid these groups, but if we are to encounter any, which I'm sure we will, we are to kill them immediately."

"Kill them?" asked Raiko halfheartedly.

"Yep. That's why the jounin are coming along. Our clients are paying alot of money for us to do this."

"Sure, whatever," said Shike. Izumi said nothing, looking up at the sky.

"Are we leaving today then? Is that what these bags are for?" asked Raiko, holding up a backpack. He had asked them to pack a few weeks worth of clothing and other suplies, weapons included, and meet him at the town's gates. Izumi's bag was the same size as theirs, but she knew it contained more. She had only packed two changes of clothes, both the same outfits almost (black shorts and a black t-shirt) along with a cloak and a pair of pants in case it got colder. She had also packed her new favourite weapons, two long, sharp daggers, and a few kunai in a small weapons pouch. She hated using shuriken, so she had not brought any. In her bag as well were a few painkillers and other pills just in case, bandages and soldier pills. She had also packed a pair of black gloves and a length of rope just in case, and thinking about it now made her wonder how she had managed to fit it all in one bag.

"Yeah, as soon as you are ready. It's a day's journey to the Hidden Mist where we will be meeting with the clients. We will be spending the night there and wait for the others to arrive before heading out again, alright?"

"Sure," said Shike.

"Yeah," said Raiko.

"Yeah," muttered Izumi. She opened her bag and pulled out her daggers, which were hanging on a strap, and strapped it across her back in a way so that the handles of the two weapons were protruding above each shoulder, withing easy reach should she need to use them. The straps themselves ran over her back and across her chest, forming a black cross on top of her black t-shirt. The daggers were large, each a little over a foot and a half and each narrowing to a double-edged, cruelly pointed and unbelievebly sharp tip. She closed her bag and looked around at the others.

They had all changed in the last month, becoming more mature and getting along better. Shike had changed the most, becoming quieter and more reserved, less fervent in his hatred towards Raiko and more centered on training and becoming stronger. For the mission today, he wore a black, sleeveless shirt and white shorts that reached down to his knees like Izumi's did. Across his back he had strapped a long sword, the weapon he specialized in using, which was a silver katana in a black sheath. The sword was larger than a normal katana, he had had it custom made, and it was almost the same height as him, almost five feet long. He had apperently been training with it during his time in the acadamy, but had only recently started actually putting it to use skillfully.

Raiko had changed as well, becoming more talkitive and taking the position of team leader. He had grown smarter as well, and although Izumi was still the sharpest on the team, he excelled in strategizing. For this mission he wore short, black pants and a dark blue t-shirt, the same colour as his hair. He also had a new weapon like Izumi, although he never used it when practicing fighting with them as it was too dangerous, easily fatal. They were a pair of gigantic katars, a long, pointed, foot-long blade that he grasped in each hand by a horizontal, metal bar. When he put them on, he would have to attatch a strong brace of metal just above his elbows to be able to control them properly, otherwise they would probably end up breaking his hands or fingers, possibly even his wrists. When not in use, they hung on a loose strap around his waist, dangling below his hip ready to be ripped off and put to use if needed.

Izumi had changed also. Not much in personality, she was still as sarcarstic as before, but in her style of fighting and her looks. She now frequently used her daggers in a complicated and dangerous fighting style used in combination with some hardly-known and yet powerful Konoha ninjutsu. She still wore her black t-shirt and her long, black shorts, along with a leather choker around her neck and her headband tied on her upper left arm, just below her shoulder. Her dark red-purple hair had grown slightly, but was still fairly short and still hung annoyingly in her left eye contantly, but she didn't mind as much now, and didn't bother flicking it out of her face unless she was nervous.

"Ready?" asked Daisuke, standing and lifting his own bag.

"Yeah," they responded, grabbing their own bags and shouldering them. Izumi had grown healthier-looking in the last week, some colour returning to her otherwise white, flushed skin. She also felt alot more energetic, participating fully in practices with her team mates and sensei.

"Let's get going then," said Daisuke. He had come to accept his team slightly more, and had began acting like a normal Jounin sensei, taking more responsibility and caring more about what they did and what happened to them.

They walked through the village gates, heading out of Konoha. For the two male gennin, this was only their second time outside of Konoha, as they had only gone on one other higher-ranked mission. But this time, they would be going far from home, heading through a total of three or four shinobi countries.

"Here, each of you take one of these so we can communicate easily," said Daisuke, handing each of them a headset. Izumi slipped hers on, adjusting the mouth peice carefully.

"Alright, let's go," came Daisuke's voice. "The way there may also contain bandits, so be careful."

They took off through the forest, dashing quickly along the small, winding path towards the hidden Mist. It was hot out, and because she was wearing completely black, she felt like she was being slowly cooked under the relentless sunlight. They ran through the trees for about an hour before resting and walking for awhile.

As the sun began to set, they took off again, dashing through the forest towards the village. By nightfall, just as the sun fully set, they entered the village, slowing down again as Daisuke picked his way through the town towards a large building in the center. They paused outside the door and Daisuke knocked lightly, waiting and putting his weight on one foot. His hawk flew down from no where, landing on his shoulder in its usual place and ruffling its feathers. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a young man around eighteen years old.

"Ah, you are the Leaf-nin, right? Please come in," he said, bowing slightly. He moved out of the doorway and Izumi followed her sensei and team mates inside, looking around in awe. The outside seemed big, but the inside was huge. Everything was neatly organized and arranged to give the impression of enless amounts of space. The young man led them through the first hall and into an equally large room with numerous swords on display on the walls.

There was a desk in the center of the room where another young man was sitting, much older than the one leading them in, looking to be in his late thirties or early forties. He sat up as they entered, his hands folded on the desk in front of him. The four shinobi removed their headsets and faced him, Daisuke standing in front of the three gennin.

"Fujishima Isamu," he said. "You must be the shinobi hired from Konohagakure, right?"

"Yes," answered Daisuke. He stepped forwards, pulling out two scrolls and placing them on the desk in front of the man, who picked them up and read them over quickly.

"Good... The shinobi from Takigakure have already arrived, just this morning, and we are expecting the shinobi from Sunagakure to arrive sometime tonight or early morning. Kenji, please show them to their room for the night."

The other young man nodded and motioned for them to follow. He led them upstairs, into a whole new series of wide halls and spacious rooms. They passed one room where a group of gennins around their age glared out at them with odd eyes that were almost as animal-like as Izumi's, the Waterfall-nin. Kenji led them into a room down the hall from them which was equally spacious, letting the three gennin enter before leading Daisuke to another room where he would be staying.

Izumi flopped back on one of the large bads, tossing her bag on the floor beside her and sighing as she lay back. Her daggers were pressing annoyingly into her back and she undid the straps, hanging them on a hook on the wall.

"This place is a big," said Raiko, relaxing as well.

"No, really," she muttered sarcastically, rolling over. Shike had removed his long sword and leaned it against the wall, throwing his bag beside it and sitting on his own bed.

"Are we starting tomorrow then?" asked Shike.

"I guess so... Whenever the Sands arrive. I wonder if we'll be protecting that Isamu guy," said Raiko, stretching and sitting up again. There was a slight noise at the door and Izumi's eyes shot up instantly alert. There was a Waterfall-nin looking in on them.

"What are you doing?" she asked, getting the other gennin's attention. They all looked up at him interestedly. He wore a completely black outfit that covered every inch of skin except for his the skin around his eyes and his ears. He had his Takigakure headband tied around his right arm in the same style as Izumi.

"Just came to see the new shinobi," he said quietly. His voice was silky and smooth, and Izumi met his green eyes as they fell on her.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking her over.

"Izumi," she said slowly, eyeing him suspiciously. There was a moment of silence as th three Leaf gennin eyed the gennin from Takigakure.

"What the hell are you staring at?" she asked angrily, glaring at him. He looked at her for a moment longer before laughing quietly.

"I like you. My name's Yari," he said, laughing again. She scowled at him, making a disgusted face.

"And I don't like you," she said back to him simply.

"Ouch," came another voice. The other two Waterfall-nin appeared around the corner and she glared at the one who had last spoken. He had dark grey hair and wild eyes that were a bizarre grey, smokey colour and were glossy. He was apperently the leader, which was shown by his look of superiority, and his face had a slightly feminine, pouty look to it.

"What are you doing in here?" asked Shike, shifting uncomfortably. She noticed his hand inch towards his katana and her eyes shot back up to the three other gennin. The girl was strikingly beautiful, but her looks were far outmatched compared to Izumi's and she knew it. She growled at her and pulled out a kunai, taking a step forwards.

"Don't speak like that to Yari-kun or I'll cut up your pretty little face!" she hissed dangerously, taking another step forwards. Izumi was up in a flash, anger flaring through her eyes as she glared at the other kunoichi, narrowing her eyes dangerously and thinking, if only looks could kill....

"I'd like to see you try, you flat-chested bitch," she growled, pulling out her own kunai.

"Woah, she's got a bad temper," stated Yari quietly, taking a step back. The other gennin snorted, turning his eyes back to the two kunoichi who were snarling insults at eachother.

"Hah, she probably died giving birth to you," said the Waterfall-nin to one of Izumi's insults. The statement hit her hard and anger flashed through her eyes violently.

"She did," she growled. Her foot stomped into the ground hard and sent her forwards with amazing speed and power. The other kunoich followed suit, dashing towards her with her kunai raised, but two shadows were suddenly between them. Izumi's kunai clashed with a katana that belonged to Yari. Behind him, Shike was holding back the other kunoichi with his own sword. There was a moment of silence, before Izumi snarled in anger, taking a step back.

"Calm down, Izumi," muttered Raiko, standing. She felt a familiar chakra boiling up inside of her and it exploded out from her, curling around her like some sort of snake, it's red energy crackling like electricity as it exploded out violently, knocking Yari back. Shike edged away from her, leaving her to glare at the now confused and intimidated kunoichi.

"Wh-What the hell is that!?" she hissed. The chakra had curled around her protectively and was clearly visible to the other gennin as it burned the same colour as her eyes. Her hair hung in her face, covering her left eye as she glared fixedly at the Takigakure-nin, concentrating only on her. She took a step forwards, and Shike was there again, blocking her way and grabbing her wrists, holding her back.

"Forget it, Izumi, she's not worth it. Just let it go," he whispered, pushing her back. She ripped her wrists out of his grasp and he ducked aside as she moved back into her previous position. She glared at the frightened kunoichi for a few moments before relaxing slightly and turning away, the red chakra dying down before fading completely, the tendrils vanishing.

"Let's go, Hikari, before sensei finds us here," said the other gennin. Yari turned as well.

"Yeah, and if he found us here he would flip like last time," he said, vanishing. The girl turned away, regaining some of her composure before leaving. Izumi was still facing the wall, her anger slowly fading away as her chakra had. She lifted her hands and examined her arms, they were badly burned from the large amount of chakra she had released in her anger, and she inhaled sharply as they exploded in pain.

"What's wro- woah," said Shike, looking over at her arms. There were a few cuts on them and the blood began to fill the gashes, flooding up before overflowing and running down, dripping off her elbows. Shike produced a few bandages from his bag and quickly spun her around, taking her arm again and bandaging it tightly, down to the last finger of each hand. She noticed his hands as he did this, and where he had grabbed her wrists the skin was red, a small cut on his left hand as well.

'What was that?" asked Raiko, referring to the energy that had just come from nowhere.

"It's... nothing. Sorry about that, I lost my m... temper," she muttered, She had almost said 'mind' instead of 'temper' but had managed to squeeze it in instead. She rubbed her arms, wincing slightly in pain but not thinking about it. Her blood suddenly froze, and she dashed to the window, looking up at the night sky. It was a full moon.

"How many days will this mission take?" she asked quietly, trying to hide the fear that was embedded in her voice.

"I'm not sure... Maybe a week and a half until we reach Konoha again or more," said Raiko casually._ A week and a half!? _Her mind raced._ But in a week I'll.... Oh shit, I never thought of this... What am I going to do if...?_

"...Oh," she muttered quietly, trying not to pannic. She sat back on her bed, staring at her dropped kunai for a few moments before falling back in exaughstion, closing her eyes and cradling her burned arms gently. She rolled over on top of her covers and closed her eyes, facing the wall and falling into a sea of nightmares, tossing and tunring all night.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Get up," came Daisuke's voice. But Izumi didn't need to be awoken, she had been up for the last two hours, waiting for the rest of the house to awaken. Shike and Raiko sat up sleepily but didn't hesitate to get out of bed as she did. She slowly pulled her legs over the edge of the bed, noticing her shoes were still on as her feet touched the wooden floor and she stood, stretching. Daisuke immediately noticed her bandaged arms.

"What happened to your arms?" he asked, facing her.

"Are we leaving now?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah..." he said, shrugging off the fact she had completely ignored his question. "Grab your things and meet downstairs. We'll be meeting the other gennins and their sensei's along with our clients. Please try to get along, you're trying to make a good impression for your village."

Daisuke vanished, leaving them alone. Izumi sighed, grabbing her daggers from the wall and strapping them across her chest again and grabbing her bag. She glanced down at the kunai she had dropped the night before and picked it up, replacing it in her black weapons pouch before following Raiko out. Shike came behind her as they found their way through the numerous hallways towards the place they had been in yesterday.

They entered, looking around at the people in the room. There was the group of Sand-nin that had apperently arrived last night, along with their sensei. Their taem consisted of the usual two males and one female ninja, but it was what they carried that caused her to raise an inquiring eyebrow. The one on the left, dressed in a black, puppeteer's uniform, carried a large... something... wrapped up in bandages on his back. Beside him stood a shorter boy with red hair and unnerving eyes, and he carried some sort of large gourd on his back woth marking running around the edges. The girl on the right carried a giant fan across her back that was almost as big as her. The three Leaf gennin passed them and stood a ways off, eyeing them suspiciously as they waited for their sensei.

Daisuke appeared moments later, and behind him walked the four Waterfall-nin, led by their sensei. The Waterfall's sensei wore a white trenchcoat with dark blue flames licking up from the bottom edge and he had long, silver hair that reached past his chin before curling neatly under. Daisuke jouned them, standing at the end of their row as the Waterfall-nin fell into line as well. They faced four men, one of them who she recognized as Isamu who had greeted them the night before.

Isamu cleared his throat, stepping forwards. "Please, introduce yourselves for the other shinobi."

He indicated the first in the row, the Sand's jounin sensei. "Baki, the Jounin sensei for the Sand," he said.

"Kankuro," said the one in the puppeteers outfit. She glimpsed at his face and saw he also had kabuki face paint.

"...Gaara," muttered the middle one quietly.

"Temari," sais the girl cheerily.

"Hakushi, Tokubetsu Jounin sensei for the Waterfall," said the next sensei.

"Kazuo," said the team leader.

"Yari," said the dark ninja, his voice even silkier than the previous night.

"Hikari," muttered the girl, glancing at Izumi.

"...Daisuke, Jounin-sensei for the Leaf," said Daisuke. There was an echoing screech and his hawk dropped from no where, gliding to his shoulder and landing in its usual place.

"Raiko," said Raiko, shifting slightly and glancing at Shike.

"...Shike," he said, his arms folded across his chest casually.

"Izumi," she muttered as it finally got to her. Isamu nodded and stepped forwards again.

"Good. Now, for this mission you know you will be escorting a few people to Iwagakure. The people to be escorted are my sons Tashiro and the twins Kaoru and Tenshi.

"I have paid you in advance for accomplishing this mission, and I am trusting you to get them there undetected and in one peice. You may leave whenever you're ready."

As Izumi listened to the way he spoke, she could tell he had hired many shinobi for other jobs. He knew exactly how to phrase things and spoke to them with an autouritve air. The three boys stepped forwards, and she looked them over. The oldest, Tashiro, was probably around eighteen or nineteen, and the twins were around her age, possibly older, but not by much. They stepped aside and led the three boys out into the morning light, stopping just outside the house to go over their plan.

The three jounin said something to the oldest brother before going into a hushed conversation with him about one thing or another, planning, questioning and what not. As they spoke, the two twins spoke quietly with eachother and Izumi looked over at them. They were exactly the same, with the exact same hair, eyes, faces and overall build. Luckily, they wore different outfits, so she would have no trouble telling them apart. They had short, black hair and dark eyes to match, and a thin but well muscled build.

Just by looking at the way they moved, she could tell they were somewhat trained in ninpou, possibly even at their gennin level, but that made her wonder about their past. She shrugged it off, it was none of her business. The three gennin groups from each country were separeated, keeping to themselves, and she knew this would be a problem. If they were going to make this mission work, they would need to show at least a little teamwork. But she wasn't going to be the one to break the ice and get to know them, it wasn't her job. She'd leave that to someone like Raiko.

Daisuke suddenly appeared beside the three Leaf-nin. "I've decided to raise the level of this mission to an A rank... The path we are taking is very dangerous. Anyways, we will be heading out now. For the first few hours, our team will be the ones staying with the group and acting as a close body guard. The other two teams will be hidden in the trees watching over us in case of an ambush, so we won't be needing the headsets yet."

"How long will this mission take?" asked Izumi casually.

"...Around a week to two weeks depending on how fast we travel and how many bandits confront us."

_TWO WEEKS!? This is very, very, very bad... Damnit... I'll need to make this as quick as possible,_ she thought, swallowing hard. Daisuke muttered something to the oldest brother before they began moving. The other two gennin teams and their sensei's vanished, leaving only the Leaf-nin to protect Tashiro, Kaoru and Tenshi.

Izumi walked beside Tenshi along with Shike and Raiko walked beside Kaoru. Daisuke was chatting happily with Tashiro as they walked in front of the younger kids. By the time they had left the village, Kaoru had made good friends with Raiko, who was going on about one thing or another as if he had known the boy his whole life.

Izumi snorted, turning back to the dirt trail and almost feeling sorry for Kaoru, who couldn't get in a word because of Raiko's ceaseless speaking. Tenshi had been quiet up until now, but he eventually turned to Izumi.

"You're Izumi, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, still keeping her eyes on the trail.

"Your team-mate sure talks alot," he said quietly.

"You get used to it."

Tenshi dropped his eyes back to the path, listening to Kaoru who was now speaking as much as Raiko had. Izumi's mind strayed for awhile as she thought of her past. She didn't remember much, only a few useless bits of information.

She remembered her mother had died giving birth to her, and that the only person who had cared about her after that were her two older brothers. She remembered no names, but they had always been there for her. She couldn't even bring their faces to mind.

She remembered being trained at the ninja school of whichever village she had come from, and the jutsu she had learned there were one of the only things she remembered. After that, there was a large blank space before blood. Lots of blood and screaming, then darkness, then Anbu. The Anbu had found her outside of Konoha, and she had no clue how she had gotten there, whether she had ran or someone had dropped her there.

That was all she had for memories, and although she knew that blood usually meant killing or war, she could feel no loss or sadness because she had no clue what had happened, it was just kind of there without meaning. To her, blood was just red water, and water was just a liquid as red was just a colour. It had no meaning to her, and she had no problem with making other people bleed or hurt. It was as if she had lost that along with her memory.

As her mind wandered aimlessly, she suddenly noticed something and lifted her head. The forest around them was completely silent aside from the voices of the gennin and her sensei. She looked around, not a single birdor animal, or even a bug, had made a noise in the last fifteen minutes. She sped up, falling into step beside her sensei and tugging on his shirt to get his attention.

"Have you noticed?" she whispered.

"Yeah, be ready for an attack. We've passed this place three times already."

"Genjutsu?" she hissed, looking around. Daisuke nodded.

"Just wait a little longer, if they don't show themselves, the other gennin teams will find them and root them out, so just act normally."

She nodded and fell back in line between Shike and Tenshi. She glanced at Shike and immediately knew that he had noticed as well, and at Raiko, whos eyes were darting everywhere as he spoke, his left hand straying towards his katars evey now and then.

They didn't have long to wait until the enemy revealed themselves. It started slowly, two wolves trotting out in front of them and blocking their path. The four Leaf-nin surrounded their clients, drawing their weapons and falling silent. Daisuke was facing forwards, Raiko to the left, Shike to the right and Izumi covering the back. The two wolves did nothing, simply sitting and staring at them with wild eyes, but one opened it's jaws, revealing a number of sharp teeth before an unearthly cry split the air.

A moment later, they found themselves surrounded by twenty men, each with a wolf by his side. The leader was facing Izumi, and he stepped forwards threateningly, his wolf baring it's teeth and snarling.

"This is our territory. Why are you here?" he asked. She noticed he had a Cloud forehead protector tied around his forehead. _What is a Clud-nin doing here? _she wondered. Daisuke shifted so that he was facing the leader and so that Izumi was in his place.

"Let us pass quietly," he said. She noticed his hawk had left his shoulder, and instantly knew what he was planning. The leader laughed, his wolf giving a short bark and stepping forwards.

"You? I remember you, Daisuke-_sama_," he snapped, grinning.

Daisuke snarled angrily and his hawk plunged from nowhere, taking the form of Daisuke and landing on the back of the leader. From the trees around them, the other two gennin teams burst forwards, weapons drawn as they plunged into battle. Izumi and her team remained around their clients, making sure no one came to close. She watched in amazement as the other teams showed their powers.

The Sand team scared her the most, it's members seeming freakishly powerful. The one called Kankuro was using some kind of puppet to fight for him in combination with some powerful jutsu she had never heard of. Temari had removed her giant fan from her back and was using it to easily blow away or slice in half the wolves and their masters, easily killing them. But it was the yongest that scared her the most. He had not moved from his original position, but was simply stnding there with his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes fixed on nothing in particular. No attacks were connecting with him, and she finally saw why.

The top of his gourd that he carried across his back had come off and sand had poured onto the ground around him. Every time an attack made its way towards him, the sand would simply form a solid wall and block it. Every now and then, he would hold up his hand and announce another jutsu, and the sand would crawl up a wolf or a man and crush them, sending blood flying. As a droplet of blood landed near her eye from one such attack, she looked towards the other team.

The Waterfall-nin were not nearly as powerful as the Sand, but she could see they were still strong. Yari was running around laughing as he happily sliced people in half with his katana. He moved like some sort of demon, dashing around like a shadow and making quick work of the men. Hikari was using jutsu after jutsu, each as powerful as the one before, and most of which revolved around the water element. She watched as a wolf was blasted back against a tree by a large cyclone of water that snapped its neck, killing it instantly. Kazuo was using incredible taijutsu, a pair of nekotes on his hands as he used them in conjunction with some odd jutsu. He had already killed two men and their wolves, and was struggling with another wolf at the moment.

Izumi watched assertively, her eyes darting everywhere. Something moved and she caught it out of the corner of her eye before turning her head fully towards it. It was the leader, and he was holding something in his hands, his wolf beside him. Her heart faltered when she noticed what he was holding was her sensei's hawk, flapping halfheartedly with a broken wing. Her sensei loved his hawk alot, and should anything happen to it, it would break him. Without thinking, she dashed after the man, leaving her position and taking to the trees.

"Izumi!" she heard her sensei call her name, but continued plunging through the trees, daggers drawn and ready. The man and his wolf were far ahead of her, but she eventually caught sight of them and sped up, dashing wildly as fast as she could towards them. The man suddenly skidded to a halt as he noticed he was being followed and turned to face her, tossing the poor bird aside where it landed clumsily on the ground, unable to fly because of it's broken wing.

"Hah, a gennin is all that Daisuke has to offer? That won't even make a meal for Kumo here," he said. The wolf snarled in agreement, stepping forwards.

"How do you know Daisuke?" she asked, her daggers still raised protectively.

"I suppose he never told anyone, did he? Daisuke is the Raikage's son, but he ran and they never found him. Raikage-sama will be pleased to know of his whereabouts. The Hunter-nin have been after him for years, the Raikage wants some information from him about Kairi and he wants his weapon back."

_The Raikage's son!? That must have something to do with why he hates Kumogakure so much..._

"That won't be possible. Dead people don't talk," she said, snapping out of her thoughts and falling into a fighting stance. He laughed again, but suddenly charged at her, his wolf becoming a replica of himself as he bore down on her with great speed.

"Kaminari no Dokujin!" she shouted, thinking quickly. Her daggers exploded in light, electricity crackling over their surface as she suddenly dropped, bringing them up and slashing one of her attacker's stomach's open, blood showering down like rain. The one she had cut broke off, landing clumsily on its side before turning back into the wolf, blood gushing from its mouth.

"You bitch! I'll kill you! Bouseki Kiba no Jutsu!" he snarled. He landed animal like a few feet away, on all fours and his foot inches from the poor hawk before jumping into the air. He became a blur as he bagan spinning towards her, ramming right into her stomach. She was knocked back into a tree where blood flew from her mouth, but he was not done.

He landed a few feet off again, skidding to a halt before jumping up again and starting another spin right towards her. Chakra suddenly exploded from her, creating a solid wall that he connected with before flying backwards and screaming. He was clutching his head and rolling around on the ground, covered in his own blood which was leaking from hundreds of gashes all over his body from the wall of chakra. After a few moments, he fell silent and still, his eyes open and unseeing.

Izumi pushed herself up, clutching her stomach and wincing as she moved over to the poor bird. She carefully lifted it and wrapped it in her shirt gently, replacing her daggers and taking off as fast as she could back the way she had come.

"Izumi!" came Shike's voice. It was not far from where she was.

"Izumi!!"

"Right here," she called back, dashing towards the voice. Shike burst from the trees, numerous cuts on his arms and his white shorts stained with blood. He looked relieved when he saw herm sighing in relief.

"Don't scare me like that. We thought those guys... got you."

"I'm fine," she said, breathing heavily. "But sensei's hawk has a broken wing and is shaking alot."

Shike looked down at the poor creature. Its eyes were half closed and it looked fairly comfortable snuggled close to her body, but its wing was folded at an odd angle and the joint was bleeding. Shike's eyes moved past the bird and towards her stomach where she had been hit.

"You're bleeding!" he hissed, taking the bird gently from her.

"So are you," she retorted quickly, cringing at the pain in her side.

"Shike, did you find anything!?" came Raiko's voice. He came through the trees as well and she was suprised to see he was unscathed, save for a single, small cut on his right cheek.

"Izumi! Are you alright? Everyone was looking for you."

"Just fine," she said, clutching her stomach and moving past Shike, who was cradling the poor hawk gently.

"Where's sensei?" she asked, looking around.

"Over where the battle was," he said, turning. She followed him back to the battlefied and looked around, cocking an eyebrow. Nineteen men and nineteen wolves lay slaughtered in various positions, some missing body parts and blood covering everything. Daisuke was crouched beside a body, examining it closely as the other jounin were doing. The gennin were sitting around their clients, relaxing together except for Yari who was nowhere to be found and Gaara who was standing off on his own, looking at the blood in an odd way and twiching. _Geez, that guy... He looks like he's gone mad._

"Izumi! I told you to stay! Don't run off like that! What if something happened to you?"

His face was troubled as he looked behind her and saw Shike holding his hawk. The hawk gave a small whistle as it turned its head towards Daisuke.

"Akame!" he said, standing and moving towards Shike and gently taking his hawk from him.

"That man, the leader, was running off with him," she explained. "So I went and got him back."

"Did he get away?" asked Daisuke.

"No, I killed him," she said simply.

"You killed him!? He was at a Jounin level," he said, staring at her in amazement. _'I suppose he never told anyone, did he? Daisuke is the Raikage's son, but he ran and they never found him. Raikage-sama will be pleased to know of his whereabouts. The Hunter-nin have been after him for years, the Raikage wants some information from him about Kairi and he wants his weapon back.,'_ she thought, recalling the man's words.

"He said something strange about you. He said that-"

"Don't! Come here," he hissed. She followed him away from the other two gennins before stopping a good distance away. Still clutching his hawk, he knelt down, looking up at her seriously.

"Alright, tell me exactly what he said," he ordered. His face was pale and troubled.

"He said that you were the Raikage's son and that the Raikage wanted to know where you were. He said the Hunter-nin had been after you for years and that the Raikage wanted information on Kairi and he wants his weapon back."

"Shit," he hissed, his face paling further.

"Are you really the Raikage's son?" she asked. He sighed, looking away for a moment.

"Yeah."

"And who's Kairi? Why did you run from the Hidden Cloud?"

"Kairi is my sister, but my father only wanted to use her as a weapon. When she turned seven, there was a war and she was killed because he used her too much and her body couldn't take it anymore."

"How is that possible then? If your sister is the weapon that man spoke of, then why would the Raikage be asking about her if she's already dead?"

"Well, no one actually saw her die. They assumed she died because no one could lose that much blood and live, and on top of that, there was no evidence she had escaped with her life, no footprints or marks, just a giant crater with a pool of blood in the middle."

Izumi said nothing, eyeing him. There were many more questions pounding through her mind, but she bit her tongue, knowing he didn't want to talk about it. He suddenly smiled and stood, cradling Akame gently and walking away.

They travelled only slightly further that day before setting up camp for the night. izumi had bangaged her stomach to stop the bleeding, but it still hurt and she ended up taking a few of the painkillers she had packed. Before going to bed, she glanced up at the moon. There was a small sliver missing from it's side.


	3. 3

"Thanks," muttered Tashiro, waving at them. They had finally finished the mission, getting the three boys to the Hidden Stone without detection. They had only encountered two other enemies and had dealt with them easily, silencing them.

Izumi had grown edgier in the last two days, it had been five days since they had left the Hidden Mist and it was a three-day journey back to Konoha. They broke away from the other groups of gennin and went their separate ways, each heading back to their own village.

"Do you want to rest for awhile?" asked Daisuke.

"No, let's get back to Konoha," she said quickly, taking a step forwards. She had only two days until... If they hurried, they could make it, but it didn't look like the rest of the group wanted to hurry as much as she did.

"Relax for awhile, Izumi," muttered Raiko, stretching as he walked along. She closed her eyes to calm herself for a moment.

"I want to get back quickly," she said.

"And we want to relax," said Raiko. She sighed in exasperation, grinding her teeth and speed walking. The others were forced to mave at the same pace as her or be left behind, which was fine for her.

Before she went to bed that night, she glanced nervously at the sky, almost crying out in shock. There was only a very thin sliver of the moon left in the sky, hanging dimly among the bright stars. She swallowed hard and rolled over, closing her eyes.

She woke early the next morning, waking up the others as well. The sun had not yet risen, and they weren't even half way back to Konoha. After some arguing and complaining, Daisuke finally set off again, this time dashing through the trees as she forced them to do. There was little time left.

As the sun began to set again, she finally paused, breathing heavily. They had been running all day, and she was exaughsted, but if she stopped things would get worse.

"How far is it to Konoha?" she asked quickly.

"About five or six more hours, if we keep going like this we'll reach it early tomorrow morning. But I'm tired, we should set up camp soon...."

She zoned out, her heart almost stopping in fear. _Five or six hours? _The words hit her slowly, numbing her mind with fear. _That means..._

She looked up at the sky as stars began to appear and the rest of the group relaxed for awhile. There was no small sliver of a moon visible, nothing but endless waves of stars and fading light... _fading light.... fading...._

Her mind snapped back to reality as the sun began sinking below the horizon, her heart beating faster than it had ever done before. She began pannicking, her breaths coming in short gasps and her hands shaking violently. She dug into her bag and pulled out her rope she had brough with her, turning to her team.

"Do you have any rope?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"...Yeah, why?" asked Shike, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Give it to me right now," she ordered. She swallowed hard, on the verge of tears. This could not possibly be happening, not now, not here, not near these people... She almost cried out in anger and frustration, refusing to believe this was happening. It was just a bad dream, she would be waking up any moment. The sun sank deeper- she knew this was reality.

She grabbed the rope from her team mates and sensei, all of whom were eyeing her oddly. If they thought she was acting odd now, then what came next would hit them even harder.

"Tie me to the trees," she said urgently.

"What!?"

"Do it!"

"What has gotten into you, Izumi?" hissed Daisuke.

"I said do it! If you don't, you won't live to see the morning!"

"No, we can't tie you to a tree!" said Raiko. They were all confused. The sun dropped further, and she felt something stir deep inside of her.

"Sensei! Just do this one thing for me! Please!" she pleaded. Her sensei bore a look of utter confusion on his face, but he stood.

"I don't know what you're trying to do... but I guess I can tie you to a tree if you want..." he said slowly, looking at her strangely. More light faded.

"Hurry!"

He motioned for the other two to help him tie her to a few strong trees, which she knew wouldn't be enough, but she didn't care anymore. She ordered them around, telling them where and how to tie it. When they were done, she had rope around her ankles, wrists, neck, arms and knees, tied securely to several trees and holding her back. The sun had almost completely vanished, only a sliver remaining above the horizon.

"What are you doing, Izumi?" asked Shike. They were all standing around her.

"Get away," she hissed, something inside of her waking up. "Don't come near me."

The tone she took with her last few words disturbed the three shinobi. It was not her voice, it was raspy, low and dangerous, as if she viewed them as more of a dinner than as her own team. She stood perfectly still, looking up at the sun and shaking terribly, fear washing over her and causing her to feel sick. The sun hovered above the horizon for a moment, before it gave out, slipping down and causing more colour to leak form the sky.

"Izumi, what are you trying to do?" asked Raiko, reaching forwards.

"Don't come near me! I can't... I will... Just don't!"

More light leaked from the sky and the world darkened. She shivered violently and fell over, the ropes preventing her from hitting the ground. Her body convulsed as she tried to hold it in, but she knew it was useless. Blood flew from her mouth as her eyes lit up, glowing red, her pupils elongating into reptilian slits as they glared out at her team.

"...Izumi?" said Shike, stepping back.

Daisuke guessed what was happening and suddenly pulled the other two gennin away from her, stepping in front of him and holding up his hands. "Stay back! Izumi, why didn't you say anything!? What happens if you lose control!?"

Izumi mustered up the last of her willpower to repond as sanely as possible. "I didn't want to be viewed like this. I'm sorry, sensei. If anything happens, please kill me without hesitation..."

"What? What are you talking about? Sensei would never hurt you, Izumi!" shouted Raiko.

"I will be forced to if she loses control," he muttered, forcing them back further. They went into shock at his words, freezing as all colour drained from their faces. Izumi looked out at them with her unnnatural eyes for a moment longer before convulsing again.

She tilted her head back, her mind slipping away as she started laughing insanely, her small frame shaking with a voice that was too big for her. When the laughing stopped, she went deathly silent, slumping forwards and becoming still.

"...Izumi?" said her sensei, trying to reach her. But she was gone. When she lifted her head, it was not her own eyes that saw him, but a demons. Her head and body bent backwards as an unearthly shriek tore from her throat, shattering the night as more blood flew from her mouth.

It had begun again. Her hands grew larger, black scales crawling over her skin and clothing, long, sharp, black dagger-like claws stretching from the end of each finger.Her head grew longer, becoming hard and scaled, long, dripping black fangs stretching from within her mouth. Two long, straight horns broke through the skin behind her fading ears, reaching up into the sky like twin, ebony towers.

Her dark red hair spread, running down her neck into a mane of firey fur and a long, whip-like tail grew out from behind her, long black spines running along it. At the end, a long, bone-like, black blade materialized, as sharp as her daggers. But she was not done. The skin on her now scaley shoulders bulged for a moment before two, leathery black wings stretched out of her, too large for the small clearing as they crumpled up against the trees in the small space. The demon before them was perfectly still as it completed the transformation, Izumi's blood leaking from it's mouth.

"Oh god... Izumi...?' whispered Daisuke, his skin pale. The demon responded by lifting its head.

"Izumi!" cried out Shike frantically, taking a step forwards. The dragon's tongue licked out, taking in the rest of Izumi's blood delightfully, its red eyes gleaming.

"This is no longer Izumi," said their sensei, pushing them further back. The dragon was quite large, towering over them, and its wingspan was over twenty feet long, each wing lined with small spikes creating a serrated edge. The only things left to remind them of Izumi were the red eyes and her dark red hair, which was now a fiery mane on the demon's neck. The dragon opened its mouth and shook with deep laughter, its teeth dripping with saliva.

"**I-zu-mi**?" it said slowly, it's voice dripping with sarcasm. "**Izumi? Me? Izumi**!?" It burst out laughing in a deep growl, it's long, sharp claws digging into the soil and ripping it to shreds easily.

"**Izumi is away right now, may I take a message**?" it laughed, its tongue running over its sharp fangs. It was staring at them as if they were dinner.

"What the hell are you?" hissed Daisuke. It laughed again.

"**Your worst nightmare, hahaha... No, really**," it said, its laughing stopping abruptly. "**Is this all you've got**?" it asked, holding up a scaled hand. It pulled suddenly, snapping the two ropes as if they were thread. Daisuke swallowed hard, frozen to the spot.

"**I'm afraid you'll have to try harder than that to restrain me. This is my playday, It only comes around every twenty-nine days or so. When the moon disappears and plunges the world into complete darkness. But soon, any month now.... Izumi's will is faltering, making it easier for me to take control. Her mind is slowly slipping away into oblivion**!" It broke off here, laughing in its deep growl for a fe moments before continuing.

"**Once her will falters, I can eat away another peice of her soul, slowly taking her life away. The only way to escape is to kill her and kill myself, or to break her soul and steal her mind away. The second way is more fun for me. It causes her great pain and suffering, mental torture and other fun things like that, and it will eventually cause her to trade positions with me. Once I break her soul into little tiny peices, I can finally fly freely again**!"

"This is what you do for fun?" asked Daisuke shakily.

"**Yes, I'm sooo evil, ne?" **it grinned widely, showing its black, sharp fangs.** "A monster, a demon, one of the legendary Youkai. One of the strongest too, and proud of it. The Kyubi has the most Chakra, the Raicho the most speed and cunning, but I'm th most dangerous. The most powerful. The strongest. To fear me is wise, because it is the same as fearing fear itself. I am Koiryuu, the God of Demons, the ruler of all ten Youkai**!"

It stepped forwards, more ropes groaning and breaking. The rope around it's neck was stronger, but the tree bent, groaning in protest before it's roots were wrenched from the earth itself. Daisuke remained frozen for a few more moments, before acting quickly.

"I won't let you! Get BACK!" His hands flew into a long, fast and complicated series of seals. "Kinkusari Shibaru no Jutsu!"

Golden chains flew our of nowhere, wrapping around the demon and burning as they did so, pulling it back violently and chaining it to the ground tightly. It struggled for a moment before falling still again.

"**You're really annoying**," it muttered through a mouthful of dirt and chain. Red chakra exploded from it, blowing away the chains as if they were nothing but an illusion. It darted towards Daisuke with amazing speed, but he had already began forming more seals.

"Ichiji Kakuheki no Jutsu!"

Red, slightly transparent walls rose around the dragon as more chains wrapped around it. It roared angrily, snapping around as its wings battered uselessly against the barrier. Daisuke's forehead was beaded with sweat as he struggled to hold it, running large amounts of chakra through it.

The dragon continued thrashing until it began injuring itself, its tail splitting open in several places and its wings rubbing against the chakra barrier, the scales eventually rubbing away and more blood flooding onto the gashes.

The stars above revolved slowly as the raw struggle occured beneath them, Daisuke somehow managing to hold the barrier, the demon Koiryuu struggling against it, and Raiko and Shike hiding behind him in fear.

The sky slowly began to lighten, but Daisuke could hold the barrier no longer. He grabbed Shike and Raiko, releasing the barrier and backing away at the same time. The chains broke one by one and the dragon roared angrily, spreading its wings and taking flight, sending entire branches flying through the air as it created a small whirlwind, flying higher and circling.

It flew higher before spotting Daisuke again and banking sharply, but something happened it did not expect. The sun cracked over the horizon, flooding the forest with light and finally reaching the demon. It let out a frustrated screech before crumpling up and shrinking down, travelling forwards for a few seconds before plunging earthwards.

Instead of the dragon, Izumi was the one falling, her body limp as if she were a small ragdoll thrown by a large dog. Daisuke saw the change, and raised his hands to try to stop her fall, but he had no chakra left, and she continued falling, picking up speed. Something inside of Shike twinged and he darted forwards, his limbs finding their feeling again and moving him forwards.

He raised his own hands and wind swirled around her helpless form, curling around it gently and slowing her fall considerably. She drifted to the ground at a slower rate before she regained conciousness and saw the ground approaching. She curled up, covering her bloodstained face and breathing in sharp gasps. Shike lowered his hands and caught her, his knees buckling with the added weight as they sunk to the ground. Daisuke and Raiko ran over, forcing their tired limbs to move them as they kneeled beside her. Daisuke grabbed her away from Shike roughly and her arms dropped away.

She looked unnaturally pale and had numerous cuts on her arms and legs, a small trickle of blood leaking from her mouth, but other than that she was fine. Her pupils remained slitted for a moment, before they dulled and shrunk, returning to their normal shape. She suddenly convulsed, sitting up and hunching forwards, blood leaking from her mouth as she struggled to control the anger of the demon within her. She remained like that for a moment before her body relaxed and she lifted her head.

Daisuke was about to yell at her for not telling them and for putting their lives into danger, but when he saw her face, he faltered. Tears were running freely down her cheeks, taking the blood with them as they driped off her chin and into the dirt, making a small muddy puddle. She brought up her hands and buried her face in them, tears running through her fingers and down her arms, stinging as they entered the cuts.

"Izumi..." said Daisuke, not sure of what to do.

"I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry... I should have told you before, but-but... I just couldn't live with that... I'm sorry..."

Daisuke's instincts finally kicked in and he removed his black jacket, wrapping her small frame up and lifting her from the ground, standing.

"You two, we're heading back to Konoha right away. Let's go," he said quickly. The two other gennin nodded silently, taking off towards the village. Daisuke remained for a moment, looking back at the destroyed forest and then dropping his eyes towards Izumi. She reminded him of Kairi in so many ways it was uncanny.

Travelling at their current speed, they easily made it back to Konoha in an hour and a half, dashing quickly through the gates. Daisuke ordered the other two to report their mission, and he dashed off towards the Hokage's quarters. Izumi had passed out from blood loss, but she was awake now, her eyelids cracking open again. She coughed lightly and looked up into Daisuke's face. It was strained and troubled, plastered with concern for his gennin.

He burst through the doors of Shinobi central before finally slowing down. He carried her towards a door and knocked lightly, waiting patiently and shifting his grip on Izumi. The door opened, a Jounin letting them in. He said something quietly to Daisuke before closing the door and leading him into another room, where they found themselves before the Hokage.

"What's going on here?" asked the Hokage, looking up from his papers. Daisuke gently shook Izumi to wake her, but found she was already awake. She slid down to the ground, using him as support for a moment before standing on her own, her eyes half closed.

Daisuke stepped forwards and leaned over the desk, muttering quietly to the Hokage. Izumi watched, biting her lip as the Hokage's face slowly changed from confused to serious or possibly angry.

"Which type is it then?" she heard him ask Daisuke.

"I have no clue. It doesn't fit any of them," he replied, glancing at Izumi. She caught onto what they were talking about.

"It's a modified form of Hyoui no Jutsu," she muttered, recalling the words that had been repeated over and over around her as a child. "Using the mother's body as nourishment for a demon or spirit sealed within a child at birth."

Daisuke was looking at her in silence along with the Hokage. "Hyoui no Jutsu? That jutsu is forbidden in all of the shinobi countries... What do you mean, modified?" asked the Hokage.

For some reason, she had always retained the information about the Koiryuu. "The normal Hyoui no Jutsu is a jutsu that allows an unborn child to be possesed by a ghost or spirit. The mother in this process loses her life and her body is used up as nourishment for the jutsu. If, once the child is born, should it fall into a deep enough sleep, the spirit or ghost will fully take control over the body. The mother's spirit lives on inside the child and will protect the child when in danger.

"The modified version that was used on me is very different. The mother still loses her life in the process as nourishment, but the results are different. The spirit or ghost posessing the child reacts to changes in the mind and the lunar cycle. Depending on the night the jutsu was performed, that will be the time when the spirit is allowed to take control. The spirit can also be released at will, but if the childs will is to falter, the spirit will take the chance to completely take over."

Daisuke gasped, faltering at her last words. "The same..." he turned back to the Hokage and whispered to him again quickly. The Hokage's expression changed again, and he nodded a few times.

"Get her cleaned up then. She will be staying with you until I decide on what to do next," he said, pulling out another blank sheet of paper. She saw Daisuke cast his eyes down for a moment, but he nodded and bowed slightly, turning back to her and walking out of the room. She followed him in silence through the busy streets towards his house, entering as he closed the door behind them.

He led her in silence upstairs into his bedroom. "You should get some sleep. I need to file some things and find Raiko and Shike."

He turned to leave, but she spoke before he closed the door. "What's going to happen to me now, sensei?"

The words seemed to have a strange affect on him, and he tensed, but relaxed, shaking his head tiredly. "I'm not sure," he said, closing the door. Izumi looked around the empty room with interest. There was a small picture sitting on the bedside table and she picked it up, looking over it. It was a picture of Daisuke when he had been younger, a girl sitting beside him and another boy behind him.

She smiled as she looked over it. Daisuke looked alot cheerier in the picture. His raven black hair was shorter and didn't hang in his grey eyes, His hawk was perched on his shoulder in its usual place, its feathers ruffled comfortably. He was smiling with his arm around a girl's shoulder who she guessed to be his sister, Kairi. Kairi was around four in the picture, and had the same raven black hair that rached past her chin, curling neatly under. She was grinning widely, her grey eyes shining happily. The boy behind them was around the same age as Daisuke in the picture, around seventeen, maybe older at eighteen or nineteen. He was grinning as well, one hand resting on Daisuke's head and the other on Kairi's shoulder. His black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and his grey eyes had a slightly sad, faroff look to them.

Looking at Daisuke in this picture made her wonder how bad something must have been to turn him into what he was now- a dark, pessimistic, child-hating young man. His eyes were completely different from the picture, they were hard and cold, or angry most of the time, the complete opposite from the ones he was showing in the picture. The ones he had now were full of pain and suffering, like hers.

She put the picture back on the table and flicked off her shoes, curling up on top of the covers and passing out almost immediately from exaughstion.

_'What's going to happen to me now, Daisuke-chan?' _Daisuke sat alone in a small cafe, cradling a cup of coffee as his mind wandered. Those were the exact same words Kairi had asked before she was sent into battle for the Raikage. His hands tightened as he thought of his father.

_He's trying to make another monster, but he needs me to do that. My brother is dead, Kairi is dead, I'm the last one left. No matter what happens, I will never give up that information. No child deserves to suffer like that._ His mind wandered further as he thought of Izumi.

_She reminds me so much of Kairi, at least when she's not angry about something. That time in the forest... She had said something that had sounded so... so _KairiShe had never questioned the fact she had been born as a monster, hated by everyone, feared by everyone, seen only as a tool for the Raikage. She had told him once that she managed to get by so easily because she had him to look out for her, and that had made him try even harder to protect her. But when it had mattered most, he had not been able to save her.

He bit his lip, taking another sip of his coffee and looking out the window. Things were beginning to fall apart again. When he had first come here years ago, he had adjusted quickly and earned the trust of the Hokage by flawlessly completing a series of difficult missions. He had come here at the age of fifteen and at a Jounin level, and he was now twenty and a Jounin sensei.

He had fought with the Cloud in the war at fifteen as well, when Kairi had been eight, and when she was killed, he had gotten into a fight with his father, ending up abandoning the village and heading to the Leaf. Now, the Cloud hunter-nin were catching up with him, and he wondered how long it would be before he was captured.

Daisuke sighed and quickly drank the rest of his coffee, throwing some money on the table and heading out into the afternoon. He had forgot to mention that to the Hokage, that the Cloud-nin had begun looking for him. He flicked his raven black hair from his eyes before heading down the street slowly, weaving between throngs of people. When he reached the Hokage's headquarters again and raised his hand to knock, he was joined by a few other shinobi; Gekkou Hayate, Shiranui Genma, and the other Jounin Sensei behind them, along with a number of chuunin.

The door opened and he was pushed in by the other shinobi until he stood before the Hokage along with them, wondering what was going on. The Hokage noticed him, but said nothing, so he played along as if he knew what was happening. The room went silent as the Hokage raised his hand.

"I have called you here to announce an upcoming Chuunin exam that will be held in Konoha. Today, I was going to take down the teams who are to participate and the examiners for the three parts. But first, which Jounin sensei's would like to enter their teams?"

"Team Seven's Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki and Haruno Sakura under the name of Hatake Kakashi," said Kakashi, stepping forwards from the group of Leaf-nin.

"Team Ten's Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino under the name of Sarutobi Asuma," said Asuma, stepping forwards as well.

"Team Eight's Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino under the name of Yuuhi Kurenai," said Kurenai. Daisuke stepped forwards.

"Hokage-sama, what about my team? I would enter them, but-"

"No, you will not be entering your team this time, Daisuke. It is too dangerous," said the Hokage. The other Jounin didn't seem to know what they were talking about. Daisuke felt a pang of guilt, he had promised Shike and Raiko he would enter them in the next exam.

"But-"

"No, it is too dangerous."

"At least give the other two a chance. They've been waiting for a long time. Can't I take another gennin onto my team for the exam?"

"We cannot allow that. You're whole team needs to be able to take part, and if Izumi cannot participate, then it is useless entering."

Daisuke bit back his tongue as he fell back into line, the eyes of the other Jounin turning back to the Hokage. He cleared his throat, before continuing.

"You all know the meaning of this exam, to strengthen bonds between the Shinobi Countries and act as a replacement for war. All of our allied countries will be participating along with Konoha-gakure. Suna-gakure, Ame-gakure, Taki-gakure, Kusa-gakure, Iwa-gakure, Kumo-gakure, Kiri-gakure and the recently established Oto-gakure."

"Kumo-gakure?" asked Daisuke, his face paling. Just what he needed.

"Yes, Kumo-gakure."

"That's my old village," he stated blandly.

"They can't possibly recognize you, you've grown since you arrived here five years ago."

"They will, there's something I forgot to mention..." he muttered, trailing off. He had forgotten that when he arrived, he had not told the Hokage he was the only remining child of the Raikage.

"And what's that?" asked the Hokage, his pipe cocking up in intrest.

"I'll tell you after."

There was a short silence, before the Hokage shifted. "Anything that you have to say to me can be said now, especially if it will affect the village or the outcome of the Chuunin Exam. The other Jounin have the right to know as well."

Daisuke swallowed hard, feeling the eyes of everyone on him again. He swallowed hard and stepped forwards, his head dropping slightly so that his face was partially hidden by his raven hair. He opened his mouth, then closed it before opening it again.

"When I came here five years ago, I felt unsure of what to share with you, Hokage-sama. I didn't know who I could trust, and I never thought it would be a factor, but..."

There was a moment of silence before he went on, drawing in a deep breath shakily. "The Raikage... I'm his son."

The silence that followed the words was suffocating, and he closed his eyes, biting his lip and waiting for someone to say something.

"You... Lied to the Hokage-sama?" hissed one of the Jounins.

"Raikage's son?"

The Hokage closed his eyes before standing from his desk and looking down at Daisuke, who seemed to shrink under his gaze. One wrong move and he knew the Hokage would no longer trust him and possibly kill or banish him. He swallowed hard.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" hissed the Hokage, his pipe still as he glared down at him. His hands were resting on the desk, but his knuckles were white because they were balled into fists.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I didn't know who to trust," he replied quietly.

"What happens if the Raikage comes looking for you?" he asked, still glaring down at him.

"That's the other thing," he said quietly. The Hokage's glare deepened. "On the last mission we met up with a group of Cloud-nin and I knew their leader. Luckily Izumi dealt with him, but before he died, she told me what he said. Apperently... Apperently, the Raikage is looking for me, sending out Hunter-nin. He wants to know how to... nevermind."

"Tell me what he wants. This is more serious than you think, keeping anything more from me will only get you into more trouble."

Daisuke, however, was reluctant to give away anything about his past in the Hidden Cloud. He lowered his head further, biting the inside of his cheek and looking down at the floor. Why did he have to do this in front of all the other Jounin? Why was the Hokage-sama making him embarass himself?

"..." he sighed and finally lifted his head, his eyes meeting the Hokage's. "I was entrusted with the information about the Hyoui no Jutsu used on my younger sister Kairi. Since she and my brother are dead, the only one left with the proper information is myself."

That was hardly the half of it, and the Hokage knew it. Daisuke's fists were clenched at his sides as he glared up at the Hokage fearlessly, some of his former self returning and glaring out through his eyes.

"...I will speak with you after. Please wait outside, Daisuke."

Daisuke shot a look at the other jounin as he walked from the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wall beside it. He listened to the voices speaking inside for a few more minutes before the door opened and Jounins began pouring out, muttering among themselves. A few cast glances towards him, and one stopped to speak to him.

"You'd better watch out in there, Daisuke. The Hokage-sama is pretty angry with you," muttered Genma as he passed by. Daisuke snorted halfheartedly, waiting until every Jounin had left before entering again. The hokage was sitting with his hands together on the desk in front of him.

"Come here," he ordered. Daisuke obeyed, stepping before him and facing him properly.

"I know you were hiding the rest of your story, and I'm not asking you to tell me it. That's your personal life and it's none of my business, but there are some things I want to ask of you. First off, although the Raikage himself isn't attending the exam, many highly ranked persons will be. Therefore I will have to ask you to go on patrol as an Anbu for the length of the exam. And the other thing I wanted to speak with you about is Izumi.

"Since you acted as the guardian over Kairi, you know the jutsus required to restrain a demon of that ranking and power. Until further notice, I want Izumi to go everywhere with you. If her will falters, the only people able to stop it would be either you or myself, and it is impossible for myself to be running around after a thirteen year-old girl. These are orders directly from me, you are to watch over the girl twenty-four seven and moniter her every move."

"...Yes Hokage-sama," he muttered.

"And I want you to know that I still fully trust you, Daisuke," he said, his voice softening slightly.

"What? Why?"

"You proved yourself loyal to the Leaf more than once. And when you first came here, you exceeded the expectations when completing the entrance missions for me. You exceeded the other shinobi, entering first Jounin, then Anbu and eventually a Jounin Sensei rank. Your jutsu are more advanced than almost every shinobi in this village, and are far above what you should be able to do. You are a very talented shinobi, a Leaf shinobi, and I know you would fight for me until the end if need be. That's why I trust you. Can you do this for me then?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he replied again. The Hokage smiled and let out a puff of smoke.

"You are dismissed."


	4. 4

Shike and Raiko had not spoken to her since their sensei had told them why they were not being entered in this chuunin exam. She had almost begged him not to tell them, things were worse enough as it was, but they heard eventually. Everyone heard. When she walked down the streets people would move aside or glance at her oddly. It made her angry.

Just because she couldn't hold it back this one time, the whole village found out her secret. She was stuck living with her sensei, the villagers hated her and the only two people she might have considered friends were not speaking to her. Her world was crashing down.

Izumi pulled her legs up closer to her in the darkness, letting the cold air surround her and steal the heat away from her, causing her to shiver. Outside was another hot, sunny day in Konoha, but the curtains were closed and it left her in the darkness, alone, cold. Daisuke had rarely laft her alone in the last days, following her everywhere and watching her closely. She relished in the moments when she was left alone for a few moments. At the moment, he was attending a meeting about something that had happened during the second part of the chuunin exam. Someone had done something that had gotten the Leaf-nin to tighten the security. The other day, she had even seen an Anbu dart past her towards the Hokage's quarters.

The third part of the exam had probably already started by now, it was still morning, but it was getting later. She relaxed slightly and slipped her feet over the edge of the bed into a pair of sandals before standing and moving slowly towards the door. She found her way through the house, back downstairs and out the door, closing it lightly behind her and blinking as she stepped into the sun. The streets were quite empty, and she guessed that everyone must be watching the exam. Her face darkened slightly as she spotted Raiko and Shike sitting alone at the ramen bar and speaking quietly.

She stopped in the middle of the street and looked over at them. They had still not spoken to her since the start of the exam. A cloud of dust blew up around her and she coughed a few times, causing the two gennin to turn around and spot her. But as soon as they lay eyes on her, their own faces darkened, their eyes narrowing into a glare. Keh, she thought, even I'd be over it by now. It's not the end of the world, there are two exams a year.

"What do you want?" asked Raiko lowly, still glaring at her.

"Nothing," she said, half suprised he had even bothered speaking to her.

"Then run along and play with your demon," he muttered. She heard him, and anger flashed through her eyes as she clenched her fists, shaking for a moment. Her body suddenly relaxed and she dropped her head, grinding her teeth as she stared at the ground, her eyes welling up with tears. This was unfair, no one cared anymore. They all hated her.

She took a step backwards slowly, then another and another before turning and walking, further and further before breaking into a run. This was just too much for her to take, she wouldn't put up with it anymore.

"I hate you!" she yelled as she tore down the street, turning a corner and taking off in another direction. She ran for a long time until her breath finally ran out and she slowed down, slowly bringing herself to a halt. She rubbed angrily at her eyes, trying in vain to stop the flow of tears. They poured down her smooth, pale cheeks, running along her jaw and dripping from her chin. She backed up slightly and leaned up against a tree, slumping to the ground and curling up in her usual position. She should have stayed inside today.

Her mind was numb, this feeling was getting old. Always the same feeling, no one wanted her, no one cared what happened to her, they hated her, treated her as if she were a monster. But she knew they were right, that they should treat her the way they did, that they shouldn't get near her. If they did, they'd probably end up dead. She was a monster, a demon, it wasn't just inside of her, but in her personality as well. She could feel the Koiryuu's anger and feeling reach out to her world through her own movements, her own decisions, her own actions.

It hurt.

It hurt alot.

It hurt too much for her small body to take. She knew that soon the monster would fully break free, she could hear it muttering to her in the back of her head, enticing her, persuading her to let go of life, to give up, to fully lose hope. Her mind was torn between her own feelings and having all her cares disappear by giving into the demon, and between those around her, the ones who might care in the slightest for her or her well-being. And right now, right now, her mind almost completely slipped away.

_Let me feel it. I promise I'll be good. Let me out, Izumi. We are the same, we are both monsters, both demons. I'm the only one who understands you. I'll show them the meaning of true pain, the type of pain you live with every moment._

_Let me feel it._

_I'll show them... If you just let me out. Let your mind slip away. I promise I'll take care of everything. No worries, no more problems, no need to be afraid. No, not afraid. They will be the ones afraid. I know you, you like revenge. You'd like to see their faces as you rip them apart. You like blood as much as I. Think about it. Red, warm, gushing, so sweet, so sweet, let me feel it... The taste, the smell, the feeling, the sound of their screaming, let me see their blood again._

_We used to have so much fun. Remember? After you cracked that one time and let me out? Didn't you enjoy that? I know you did. I can let you feel it again. Taste it, feel it, see it, be it. You don't deserve to be treated like this. I'll get revenge for you. I'll carve out their stomachs, decapitate them, make it rain blood..............._

"But I can't," she muttered, her eyes half closed as she listened to the comforting sound of the Koiryuu's voice echoing through her mind. "Last time.... Last time.... So many people.... Dead bodies everywhere. There was too much blood, not good. It tasted horrible. It was all over me, on my hands, in my mouth... It ran into my hair and made it an even darker red... Then in my eyes, making everything look red. All the people were telling me to stop, but it felt...good..."

_Yes... It did feel good, ne? I can let you feel it again and again, for as long as I live, I'll give it all to you. Just let me out. You are as trapped as I am, but if you let me out, you will be free and careless, like a dove in the great blue sky. You don't need to do anything, just watch as I do it for you. Think about the feeling that comes with it..._

"No...." Her closed fully, plunging her into a familiar darkness and feeling a strange power rise around her. "This is my village now. I can't do this to them."

The Koiryuu appeared in front of her, chains wrapped over it, a large, iron collar around its neck, a thick, wire muzzle strapping its mouth shut. It grinned as she met its eyes, showing a number of black, needle sharp teeth.

_But we really are the same. You have the same eyes as me. Blood red, stained with sins and dripping with anger, stewing in the blood of the innocent. And I know you like it. Remember before, how good it felt to make that transformation? We both showed our true selves that day. I used to be stuck in the form of some lowly demon, a useless, powerless dragon. And you, you were nothing but a small, weak, innocent little kid. That felt good, didn't it?_

_Remember... Your first taste of blood... Gushing down your throat, flooding your thoughts, so warm and sweet. You finally let me out, and I got the rest of them for you, remember? I was good, I only killed the ones you wanted me to. I listened to you. I've always listened to you. I'd never disobey you. You are like my master. Anything you want, I'll do for you._

She dug her nails into her arm, tighter and tighter until they broke the skin, blood flowing into the small cuts. She raised it slowly to her lips, eyes still closed, breathing in the scent of blood, her sense of smell enhanced over three hundred times. "Yes... I want to feel it again...**_ Let me-_**"

"Izumi, are you alright?"

Her eyes snaped open and the voice in her mind vanished, leaving her alone and looking up at Shike. He was kneeling beside her, she hadn't even felt him approach. Her cheeks were still stained with tears, but she had stopped crying long ago. Her head pounded painfully as she snapped out of her trance and she felt the odd power fall away from around her.

"...Shike?"

She finally recognized him and lowered her eyes, thinking of what she had been about to do. There were four small, crescent shaped cuts on her forearm where her nails had broken the skin, the small amount of blood contrasting with her pale skin. She lowered her arm, still looking down.

"...I'm sorry I yelled at you like that," she whispered guiltily.

"He didn't mean it, and he does feel bad about saying that. I told him that it's just an exam, and that he should get over it. You don't deserve to be treated like that by your own team mates, it's enough having the rest of the village avoiding you."

She said nothing, keeping her head down and her eyes closed. But she really was thankful that she was on speaking terms with Shike now. At least he finally came around. He was the more sensible of her team mates, although Raiko was stronger. Ther was a long pause, both of them sitting in complete silence. She suddenly felt Shike's hand on her cheek, wiping away the rest of her lingering tears. It felt so cold against her skin, which was odd since she was usually the cold one.

She lifted her head and met his dark eyes, blinking a few times. There was another long pause as they simply stared at eachother for a minute. Shike finally shifted, leaning forwards and dropping his hand. Izumi froze at the sudden movement, but relaxed as he leaned further forwards and pressed his lips into hers slowly. All of her thoughts and worries suddenly vanished as she relished in the feeling, blocking out every other thing that was going through her mind at the moment. It was better than anything she had ever felt before, better than anything she ever would. She felt almost... happy.

"I know what it's like to be hated," he whispered, pulling back slightly so that his face was inches from hers. "Even if what you feel is a hundred times worse than anything I've ever been through, I still know what it feels like."

She looked into his eyes again and for the first time she noticed somthing different about him. Before, where she had only seen darkness, hate and anger in his black orbs, she now saw pain as well. Endless mounts of pain and suffering. She didn't know how she could have missed it before,

His head suddenly spun around as a loud explosion shook the ground coming from the east, not far from them. A moment later, a large cloud of dust billowed from the Village wall, accompanied by shouting and sounds of battle.

"What's going on?" she asked, pushing herself up. Shike was perfectly still, his eyes looking deep into the forest, into the shadows. She said nothing more as the explosion becam background noise. Shike suddenly spun around, grabbing her arm and pulling her in the opposite direction.

"Run," he hissed. She needed no second warning as three giant snakes appeared over the treetops, barreling through the forest straight towards them at an unbelievable speed. She took off along with him, dashing quickly through the trees back towards the village. Branches whipped across her arms and face as she ran, but she didn't care. What she was currently worrying about were the fast approaching snakes.

Leaf-nin were suddenly everywhere as they broke into the village again, Shike releasing her arm as they looked up and behind them. Three gigantic snakes were barreling through their ranks, towering over them and crushing them like insects. All attacks used against it seemed to have little or no affect, and it simply kept on heading towards the center of the village. By the time the two gennin regained their senses and started running again, the snakes were upon them. Along with a small shadow.

The shadow hit them hard, lifting them up and knocking them away from the snake's path of destruction. Izumi hit the ground hard with her hands over the back of her head and Shike beside her. An Anbu was laying on top of them, but quickly pulled himself away, dusting off his black cloak. He removed the mask, revealing Daisuke's angry face.

"What are you two doing out here!?" he hissed, forcing their heads down as a barrage of attacks flew after the three serpents. When he got no answer and let them up, his face softened slightly. Slightly.

"Something has happened. The Sand and the Sound are attacking Konoha."

"What!?" they both shouted at once, staring at their sensei with open mouths.

"They used the exam and the peace treaty as a cover for their attack, and we were caught off guard. They are being led by Orochimaru most likely, one of the Legendaryy Sannin. I've already found Raiko and sent him to help at the arena, you two go find him and help. This is war. Go!"

The two regained their senses quickly and darted up and took off after the snakes at an even faster speed, heading straight for the arena. Izumi's mind was spinning as the arena's walls rose in front of them. There was a thin column of smoke rising from under a tower. On the tower's roof was a giant purple barrier. Withing the barrier was the Hokage with a kunai being held to his throat.

They plunged towards the arens, jumping onto the walls and finding chaos below. The townspeople and other visitors were all passed out in their seats, under some kind of Genjutsu sleep. Around them were many Sound and Sand-nin battling with the Leaf-nin who had managed to deflect the Genjutsu, but things weren't looking too good for them. Izumi spotted Raiko facing three other Sand-nin in the center of the arena, and she and Shike were off in a flash, landing on either side of him.

Izumi faltered when she saw who he had been facing. They were ther three freakishly powerful Sand gennin, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari, that they had been on the mission with. Gaara looked like he was having a mental breakdown, and the other two seemed to be afraid of him. Izumi stood from her crouch, looking out at him. He was muttering to himself, or to some invisible person, and she froze.

"_Oh, and then their insides... And I'll give them all to you, mother. I've always been a good boy_..."_ He was muttering to his mother? _She slowly realized the similarity between her and him. She was not as derranged as he appeared now, but when she fell into her trances, it seemed as if she was. She would constantly speak to Koiryuu as if it were her mother or guardian, with the same faroff look as him, the same voice, the same... _Hyoui no Jutsu!? _she thought, staring at Gaara. He had black markings around his pale eyes that stood out from his colourless skin, and as she peiced it together she came to this conclusion. It was the original Hyoui no Jutsu, not the kind that had been used on her, but a Possession skill none the less.

"Gaara, the Plan!" hissed Kankuro. _Plan? _she thought. _What 'Plan'?_

Something flickered in front of them and a Sand jounin appeared, who she recognized to be their sensei, Baki. A flicker of recognition passed over his face as he saw the three Leaf gennin, but he shrugged it off and barked something at the gennin before taking out another Leaf-nin.

"These three aren't doing anything, we should make the first move, so-"

Izumi pulled Raiko down ad a number of kunai passed over him where his head had been moments before. Acting on instinct, she lashed out, grabbing two kunai from the air and charging the Sound-nin who had thrown them.

He seemed to be caught off guard at the ferocity at which she attacked him, because as the kunai connected with him, he made no move to block or dodge. They both toppled over, Izumi skidding to a halt a few feet away and leaving him dead with two kunai in his throat, blood gushing onto the arena floor.

Raiko and Shike were staring at her in horror along with the two sane Sand gennin, but she wasn't done. Ripping the kunai out roughly, she charged at another Sound-nin, catching him from behind and embedding the kunai into the base of his neck, killing him instantly. She felt something burning inside of her, a power she had not let loose for years, and her eyes burned with it, her pupils growing into long, reptilian slits. She ripped out this kunai as well, letting the body slump to the ground and pausing for a moment.

She turned her head slightly, looking behind her with wide, inhuman eyes which fell upon a row of eleven Sound-nin, each holding kunai of their own and facing her. Her eyes widened further, not in fear, but in anticipation, and she turned fully to face them, blood spattered on her pale face and enhancing the colour of her eyes. She fell into a relaxed position, her arms hanging losely at her sides, a kunai dripping with blood in each hand. The Sound-nin seemed taken aback at the eyes she was showing them, staring out at them hungrily, as if she were the predator and they were simply dinner.

There was a soft whoosh of air and Raiko and Shike were suddenly beside her, weapons drawn. She shifted a foot, not seeming to notice the other two before she plunged forwards recklessly, head-on at the first two. Raiko and Shike followed suit somewhat less enthusiastically, but gave it their best.

She threw the two kunai at the one behind the first one, and he ended up on the ground with a kunai embedded up to the handle in each eye, screaming and writhing for a moment before falling still. She then dropped suddenly into a crouch, lashing out with her leg and missing the Sound-nin before her. But he fell anyways, Shike's blade going clean through his chest before sliding out quickly. Izumi didn't hesitate to jump at the next one, grabbing him in a complicated taijutsu manuever and snapping his arms easily before dislocating his shoulders as well.

Shike was almost disgusted at the way she was fighting. She hardly ever aimed to kill instantly, but cause great pain and suffering by hitting pressure points, dislocating joints, breaking bones, hitting internal organs... It was almost as if she was a cat playing with its dinner before eating it. She jumped animal-like at another Sound-nin as he threw four kunai her way. One hit her in the shoulder, not going in very deep, and she managed to dodge the rest. She pulled the weapon from her shoulder and tackled him to the ground, slipping the kunai into his throat slowly, behind his windpipe and avoiding his main arteries.

"Demon!" he spat with his last breath. She grinned a grin that was too large for her before jerking her hand forwards, severing his air supply and arteries, blood spilling over her. He was the last one, and he died in a matter of seconds. Shike and Raiko had barely a scratch on them, and the only wound she had was from the kunai on her right shoulder. They turned back to where the three Sand gennin were standing and saw something odd.

Kankuro was standing and staring at them in shock, along with Temari, but where Gaara should have been standing there was some kind of barrier. A barrier of sand packed tightly together to form an impenetrable defence in a dome around him. Izumi noticed this as well and let another peice of her mind slip away. Her eyes fell onto the man she was still holding onto, the blood gushing from his throat.

The sight and smell of so much fresh, warm, sweet blood caused something inside of her to snap, like the last dam inside her mind had overflowed. Her grip tightened around the man's body, her eyes widening further as the warm liquid poured over her hands, soaking her, turning her vision red. Her lips parted, her tongue running across her unusually pointed teeth as she leaned forwards slightly.

"What are you doing, Izumi!?" yelled Raiko, staring at her in horror along with the other Gennin. But she was as far gone as Gaara by now, and the blood was all she saw. Her teeth seemed to grow even longer, tapering into sharp fangs as her head was lowered towards the neck of the dead man. Her tongue licked out again, hovering millimeters from the blood as some amount of reason found its way into the back of her mind. She pulled back slightly, but the demon withing overpowered reason and she placed her mouth over the wound, closing her eyes and sucking in the dark red liquid.

One of the Sand gennin made a gagging noise and they all took a few steps back as she silently enjoyed the sweet liquid dribbling down her throat. Her fingers dug into the dead body, her fingernails growing longer slowly, small pointed claws replacing them. She pulled her head back finally, blood dripping from it as she grinned again, dropping the body and standing. Her hands flew into a short series of seals and red chakra suddenly exploded from under her, wrapping around her and creating another impenetrable barrier around her like Gaara's.

Except there was a difference between hers and his. His was made from sand that grew stronger with blood, hers was already at its strongest, being made entirely of blood. It flew up around her, creating a dome that blocked her from the rest of the world, plunging her into darkness.

"**I am ready... I'll give up my body to you. Let me feel it. Let me taste it. I need more. More blood**."

_Hehehehehe, I knew you'd let me. We are the same. Don't worry, I'll leave the others alone. Like last time. I was good. I'm always good._

"**Once I can**..."

_Get out of this..._

"**Stupid body**..."

_I'll..._

"**Be**..."

_Free..._

_**"Again!"**_

Pain ripped across her body and mind violently and she enjoyed it, laughing in her dome of blood. It was a pain she had only felt once before, and the results from that had been wonderful. She almost screamed in pleasure as the pain reached a climax and she felt things ripping her body apart, tearing from her skin and stretching out around her. As the pain faded, the dome around her fell as well, revealing none other than the Koiryuu.

In the larger clearing, its wings stretched out to an amazing length, almost thirty feet. Its wild eyes burned angrily and blood dripped from its mouth as it snarled at the Sand gennin, folding its wings by resting them across its back, supported by two bony spikes that protruded from its hips. At the exact moment it broke free, Gaara's own shield fell away, revealing a demon of his own. It was the sand demon, Shukaku.

The other gennin leapt away as the two demons spotted eachother, glaring at each other in silence. The Shukaku was as large as the Koiryuu, but had no wings, making it look somewhat smaller. The black dragon's jaws parted and it let out a short laugh.

**"They got you too, Shukaku**?"

**"Koiryuu? I thought you would have been able to resist a simple posession skill like this," **retorted the other demon.

**"Keh, I wasn't in my true form. I'm suprised they didn't just kill you, weakling,"** growled the dragon, taking a step forwards.

**"Your vessel seems to have a stronger will than mine. Gaara willingly lets me out, but that girl seems like she can think straight."**

**"Doesn't matter, I'm out now. Let's play,"** roared the dragon. It suddenly whipped up its long tail, narrowly missing hitting Shike and Raiko and slamming into the concrete wall behind it. The concrete shattered as if it were nothing but glass, showering down and cracking easily. Many shinobi who were not fighting were now staring into the arena which was almost completely filled with the bodies of the two demons. The Shukaku growled as well, suddenly leaping forwards at the dragon, swinging a clawed hand towards its head.

Koiryuu simply lowered his head, not moving its feet in the slightest and taking the blow hungrily. The Shukaku's claw was easily peirced by the two, long, pointed horns that were protruding from Koiryuu's head, going clean through. The Shukaku pulled its hand back and the wound sealed itself back up quickly, not doing any real damage. Below them, the other gennin had engaged in their own battles, Shike with Temari and Raiko with Kankuro. But to the demons they were nothing but small specks, easily crushed if they were thrown off balance.

"**Get serious, Koiryuu**," growled the Shukaku, crouching again. The Koiryuu grinned its toothy grin and stretched its wings wide before beating down and lifting off. He circled above, eyeing the earthbound Shukaku with an air of superiority.

_Spill his blood._

The Koiryuu dived suddenly, folding his wings and plunging with unseen ferocity towards the sand demon,head folded down so that the two horns were pointing straight down. It hit the Shukaku in the back of the head, grabbing at it with long, sharp claws and ferociously tearing the first layers of skin to shreds. After wrenching its horns free, it bit down on the demon's neck, black fangs sinking deep and drawing blood. Its wings flapped uselessly at tis side and its back legs were tearing away at the Sand demon's tough-skinned belly.

The Shukaku's tail suddenly rose and soared towards where Raiko and Kankuro were fighting, and something within the Koiryuu jolted, causing it to release its death grip and dash towards the gennins. It brough its own tail up, above its head as it stood towering over the fighting gennin, blocking the blow. The gennin froze in their battle, jumping back and staring up ar the belly of the Koiryuu.

Where the Shukaku had connected with the Koiryuu's tail, the spines broke, blood gushing slowly from the small wells left behind where the spines used to be. The gennin below stopped their fighting completely as the Shukaku grinned.

"**Why did you protect the brats**?"

"**Unlike you, I keep my promises**.," snarled the Koiryuu, throwing the Shukaku's tail off of himself easily. Shike and Temari had also stopped fighting, instead getting ready to save their own lives. They had bigger things to worry about. Much bigger.

The Shukaku grinned and turned, charging at full speed towards a frozen Shike. The Koiryuu snarled angrily and dashed after him, but wasn't able to reach the gennin in time. But Shike wasn't totally defenseless. He held up his hands as he had done when Izumi fell after the transformation last time, setting his legs further apart and bracing himself. A second later, even the Koiryuu was forced to brace himself as a whirlwing embedded with thick chakra blades exploded in their direction, stopping the Shukaku dead before slowly pushing him back. The Koiryuu held up its wings to defend as the blades tore at its skin, drawing blood in some places, but not doing much damage.

He wasted no time in charging forwards, skidding to a halt in front of the boy and facing the Shukaku again. There was a pause in the battle and the Koiryuu turned his head towards Shike, looking down on the small gennin. He has potential, he thought, his mouth breaking into a grin. He unfolded a long, scaled wing, the tip touching the ground in front of the panting gennin.

"**You've got some power there kid. I like that. Climb up here and get on my head, that way you won't get in the way**."

Shike looked up at the dark demon in shock, before his eyes fell on the outstretched wing. He was breathing heavily and didn't seem to want to get any closer to the demon.

"**I won't _eat _you**," laughed the demon. "**I'm still half Izumi, and I promised I wouldn't. Hurry up**."

Shike still remained frozen for a few moments, but he reached out, timidly touching the leathery wing before climbing up onto it, scambling onto the demon's back. He carefully climbed passed the llong spines until he reched the head, grasping handfuls of dark red fur and looking at the Shukaku on eye level. The Koiryuu folded its wing, resting it back on the spine protruding from its hip and glaring out at the Shukaku.

**"This damn girl is distracting me... I can't think. Oi, you boy. Help me with this thing," **called the Koiryuu, crossing his eyes to look at Shike.

"What?"

**"I can't think straight so I need you to help fight this with me. You're strong enough, so lets go," **he growled, lunging forwards. Shike almost flew off as the Koiryuu charged the Shukaku again, raising his claws and diving back into the battle.


	5. 5

"**Let's make quick work of this, I'm tired of playing,"** muttered the Koiryuu, turning to face the Shukaku for the hundredth time. The hot afternoon sun was beginning its downward descent in the sky, casting long shadows across the completely demolished arena.

"**Hey, kid, I need you to distract him for a sec so I can finish this**," he muttered quietly.

"...Alright," said Shike quietly. They were both covered in dust and rubble, but were virtually unscathed. Below them on one side sat Raiko, leaning up against a large cement black and trying to staunch the flow of blood from his side. The Sand gennin were on the other side, breathing heavily and trying to avoid getting hit by either of the large demons.

Koiryuu shifted his front foot, chakra visible around his body as he charged at the demon for the last time. But instead of connecting with the Shukaku, he skidded sideways, Shike jumping from his back as he flipped into the air.

"HiJutsu: Tsumujikaze!" shouted Shike, bringing his hands to his mouth. He breathed in a deep breath before releasing it, sending a gigantic whirlwind towards the Shukaku that had chakra and bits of rubble embedded in it. As the Shukaku brought its arms up to block the powerful attack, Koiryu grabbed its shoulders, beating down hard and lifting off, flying higher and higher.

A moment after the Shukaku realized what had happened, he was falling towards the earth. But he wasn't alone. The Koiryuu was still grasping his shoulders, but was actually flaying down as well, beating its wings hard and picking up great speed. Ten feet before they hit, he suddenly released the Shukaku, snapping his wings up and breaking away as the other demon crashed into the ground, making a large crater. The demon didn't even have enough strength to snarl or move, it simply lay frozen in its own blood for a moment before reverting slowly back into Gaara.

The Koiryuuu was about to finish off the gennin, but Shike suddenly cried out in pain and he spun around in mid flight, looking below him. Shike stood leaning on the cement wall with several weapons pinning him there, blood leaking from various wounds. It dribbled down his partially open mouth, off his chin and into a small puddle on the ground. Before him stood a number of Sand-nin.

Forgetting Gaara, the Koiryuu screeched loudly in anger, red chakra exploding around it and crackling like electricity as it tore into the Sand's ranks, taking them out with a few swipes of its clawed hands and sending them against the cement wall where they slid down, leaving a trail of blood as they fell to the ground.

The Koiryuu roared again, forgetting about everything but the enemy. It spread its wings wide, running as it took off and pumped its wings hard, circling the arena. It spotted another group of Sand-nin below and screeched, opening its mouth wide. A ball of light appeared between its jaws, remaining small for a moment before exploding into flames, burning a bright path towards the group. They were instantly incinerated, leaving nothing but an empty, black crater where they had stood.

"Stop it! Get it away!" shouted a Leaf-nin. The Koiryuu snapped around and burned a straight path towards two Sound-nin, but one of them managed to avoid it. But the dragon's jaws found him, snapping his body around before releasing it and sending it flying. Most people thought they were watching a demon, but it was Izumi who was doing most of the work at the moment.

She had felt an anger burning inside of her that she had never felt before, and it blocked out everything in her mind. She saw only the enemy and her claws tearing them to peices. She had absolutely no clue what she was doing, but it didn't matter anymore. She was not stopping anytime soon.

The Koiryuuu grunted as it was engulfed in a column of flame shot from the mouth of a Sand-nin, but the hard scales covering its body made the flames useless against it. It opened its jaws, snapping the enemy's neck in a single snap of its jaws, pointed fangs going clen through his body and sending blood flying everywhere. A picture of Shike flashed through her mind, blood dripping from his lips, spattering his pale face, running down his arms and pooling at his feet.

The mere thought caused the demon to screech again, shaking the ground in anger as red chakra exploded around it, instantly killing another ten or fifteen Sound and Sand, and narrowly missing a few of the Leaf Anbu as they dashed aside. He went into a frenzy, snapping around blindly, lashing out with his bone-tipped tail,slicing with his wings and tearing at things with his needle sharp claws. If the arena had been destroyed before, it was soon completely demolished, save the place where Raiko was examining Shike, trying to stop the bloodflow.

Another shinobi shouted something from behind him and he was blasted back a few yards by a large column of spinning water. There were a number of shuriken and other small wepons embedded in it that sliced his wings, tearing them slightly. When the water faded, he was taken aback when he saw the user was a Leaf-nin. Looking around, he vaguely noted there was no longer any enemies, but he was still surrounded by shinobi. Leaf-nin. All forming selas and sending jutsus at him.

So he acted in self defence.

Without aiming to kill, his tail whipped around, knocking them back as he beat his shredded wings, trying to lift off. He could still feel Izumi's anger within him, and it was still powerful enough to control some of his movements, but he could not speak for some reason. Another water cyclone was sent towards him and this time he opened his mouth and blasted it back. But another came from the side and he was forced to block with his already shredded wings.

The two cyclones hit him with tremendous force, knocking the air from his lungs and completely ripping apart his leathery wings as if they were wet paper. He screeched with what little breath he had left and chakra exploded from him again, pushing the water back until it faded completely, leaving him broken and bleeding as he face the Leaf-nin. Which left him with another problem: he had no chakra left.

He stood with his legs spread out evenly, his body lowered along with his head and blood dripping form him, running out of various wounds. His wings were shredded and broken beyond hope, hanging useless and crumpled at his side.**_ I should have made a full transformation instead of only half, but that could have killed Izumi and even myself... There's nothing I can do at the moment, I don't have enough chakra to complete the transformation..._**

He moved to block as a fiery whirlwind tore across the arena, or what was left of it, blasting him back and cutting his neck open. This was followed by several more, and he finally fought back, roaring and lashing out, catching one of the Anbu with a single claw and sending him flying into the wall, unconcious. He was losing blood quickly, and didn't know what to do. His mind was overflowing with the sound of Izumi screaming at him, each word laced with tears and pain, yelling at him to kill, yelling at him to stop, or just plain yelling at him.

**_Get out of my head_**, he thought, shaking his reptilian muzzle and sending a shower of blood flying everywhere. He was hit by another few jutsus until he was leaning against the remainder of the cement wall, panting and bleeding heavily. But he would rather live.

He suddenly lunged at the first row of Leaf-nin, ready to kill them all, but golden chains suddenly wrapped around his body. They curled over his arms and legs, his wings, tail and up his neck, wrapping his muzzle closed. It burned and soothed at the same time, easing the pain and making him sleepy. He slowed to a standstill, finally collapsing in a large puddle of blood. His red eyes slowly closed, his breathing becoming shallow as he let the darkness take him.

_Get out. I don't want to be here. Stop fighting. Stop killing. Leave them alone. Let me out, Koiryuu! _Izumi floated slowly through the back of the slumbering dragon's mind, her arms wrapped around her thin waist as she squeezed her eyes shut. The pain was unbearable, tearing through every small fibre in her body and slowly breaking her. It was cold and wet and she couldn't breathe. She finally opened her eyes, looking up.

She was floating in blood. It surrounded her completely, suffocating her, drenching her, filling her nose and mouth and stinging her eyes as she strained them to see anything other than the red. She lifted a hand, reaching out through the thick liquid to try and grab hold of something, anything, but there was nothing to grab on to. More blood gushed from her mouth and she withdrew her hand. The pain had suddenly vanished, like her body had suddenly gone numb.

_"Iyasu!" she shouted, running down the street. People parted as she dashed towards the center of the city, they always avoided her._

_"Over here, brat," came a voice to her left. She skidded to a halt, spotting the dark-haired jounin. He was leaning on the side of a restaurant wall, arms folded over his chest._

_"Why do you always run off like that!? Dad never means what he says," she said, running over to him. He looked down at her for a moment before smiling and ruffling her raven black hair._

_"I know," he said. He suddenly reached down and lifted her off the ground, sitting her on his shoulders and walking out from behind the restaurant, heading towards the center of the city. He opened his mouth to speak again, but the ground was suddenly shaken by a large explosion, followed by one more before things fell silent again. Iyasu spun around, looking up into a large column of smoke that was rising from the south, at the edge of the city._

_"Whats going on?" she asked, gripping his shoulders tightly with her small hands. He gently took her down and crouched before her, at eye level with the child._

_"I need you to go to father, alright? I'm going to go help brother, he's on guard duty over there. Go quickly, alright?" He said seriously, a hand on each shoulder._

_"Right," she said seriously, her young face looking up into his as he stood. She smiled before turning and dashing towards the center of the city, weaving between throngs of pannicking people. There was another loud explosion and the ground shook, sending her sprawling forwards into the dirt. She pushed herself up, wiping dirt from her mouth and spitting it out, making a disgusted face._

_Standing, she looked behind her and her face paled further. A body was hanging over the edge of the roof a few houses away, the man's face a mask of shock as blood dripped down from him, dripping onto the streets below. She swallowed hard before turning and dashing away again, somewhat more quickly._

_A few explosions later, she finally burst through the doors of the large building, glancing around as swarms of jounins passed around her, barking orders at eachother and running messages across the room. She darted between them towards another door and burst through that as well, to find her father speaking with a number of Anbu and two Jounin.._

_"Dad!" she shouted, skidding to a halt and almost falling over. "What's going on?"_

_"The Stone is attacking again. Come here," he said, ignoring the other shinobi in the room at the time. She dusted her black t-shirt off again and stepped forwards towards her father, standing to attention before him as was expected of her._

_"Are you ready for a super A rank mission?" he asked in his usual quiet, silky voice. She shook her head furiously, a smile crawling onto her face. Her father opened his mouth to speak again, but the door to the room suddenly burst open again, a young Anbu and a jounin stumbling in. They both had the same dark hair and grey eyes as her, and the younger one, the Anbu, was bleeding from his side, the blood staining his white uniform red._

_"Kairi! Are you alright?" asked Iyasu, breathing heavily and moving towards her. The Anbu remained at the door, glaring angrily at her father._

_"Be quiet Iyasu," ordered her father, turning back to her. "As I was saying, this is a high A ranked mission that I will need you to do by yourself in order to protect this village. I want you to fully release the Shinkirou and use it against the enemy."_

_"What!?" she yelled._

_"What!?" shouted Iyasu, stepping back and staring at his father in horror. "But if you do that then..."_

_"I am fully aware of the consequences, Iyasu," said his father curtly._

_"But dad, I don't want to-"_

_"I don't care if you don't want to, you have to. There is no other option."_

_"But-"_

_"YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, KAIRI!!!" he barked, slamming his hands on the desk and standing. She swallowed hard and shut her mouth._

_"You can't," said the Anbu at the door, taking a step into the room._

_"You stay out of this," growled her father, shooting an angry look at him. "I'll deal with you later."_

_"You can't do that to an eight-year-old kid. It would-"_

_"She is not your daughter! She is mine, and I will decide what I want to do with her!"_

_"I won't let you destroy her like you did to us!" he shouted back, taking a step forwards as he spoke._

_"I chose you to success me over Iyasu, and yet you argue the most with me... I sometimes wonder why I even bother. I told you, I will deal with you later, so stay out of this. I will do with her as I please," growled her father. The Anbu stopped moving forwards._

_"Keh," he scoffed, freezing on the spot and grasping his side again. She turned her eyes back to her father._

_"I don't want to... It hurts," she whispered, looking down at her feet._

_"If you don't, I will be forced to punish you again," he growled. She met his eyes as fear flashed across them._

_"No! I... I will. Just don't do that, it hurts even more... I'll go and fight for you, like a good girl, a good weapon," she said, turning away and walking out of the room. The Anbu was standing outside and he followed as she left the building and moved into the streets, looking past the nearest houses and down into the main village. There was a flood of shadows slowly advancing towards the center, dashing along rooftops towards the main building._

_She stopped and looked on helplessly as the shadows neared, swarming up the hill towards the bulding, and she slowly released the familiar power, letting it crawl across her skin and fill the air around her with it's crushing power, the raw energy licking up like flames at her feet._

_The Anbu stopped behind her, standing a few feet off and looking on at the ranks of Stone-nin as they broke like waves over the village, washing towards them faster and faster. She turned her head slightly, tears running down her cheeks as she looked at the young Anbu._

_"What's going to happen to me now, Daisuke-chan?"_

Izumi's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, her head snapping back as a scream tore from her throat, sending bubled upwards through the see of blood. The memory flashed through her mind so vividly it had been as if it had all hapened at that exact moment. She had even felt the pain, the sadness, everything. She could almost feel the Raikage's eyes still watching her.

_It's... It's not possible! _She screamed inwardly, choking on more blood_. It's impossible!!! Daisuke can't... He can't be... It's just impossible!_

**_Get over it, kid_**, came a familiar voice, dulled by the blood around her.

_No! I won't believe it!!!_

**_I didn't want to tell you because I knew that if you remembered then we would both be reverted back to our formal selves. And look waht happened, now I'm stuck back inside that stupid, weak little dragon, the Shinkirou as they called it._**

Her hands were clutching the sides of her head as she floated along in the blood. Her breathing had stopped a long time ago, but the pain was somehow still there, echoing through her dead body like a memory frozen in time._ It's impossible_, she thought slowly.

_**If you don't move soon, you'll be gone forever.**_

_I don't want to._

**_I do_**.

_I don't._

**_Ugh, just open your damn eyes and accept it, kid. There's no other explanation, it's the truth, everything else that I could tell you would be a lie. Daisuke's your brother, the Raikage is your father, and your name isn't Izumi, it's Kairi. I gave you that name when I tried to erase your mind so that there would be less memories to worry about._**

_Kairi? I can't be Daisuke's sister. We have nothing in common. We don't look anything like eachother. It's simply not possible._

**_There's nothing simple about it. It took me a year to kill off your old self, I had tons of memory to destroy, which was made even more difficult as I tried to save the things that I needed, such as your Jutsus, memory of me, even the simple things like how to communicate or walk. Then I had to pound your new identity into your mind and change your appearance. Changing your looks was the easy part._**

_**When you fully released the Shinkirou that I was posessing, I managed to break through and take my true form as the Koiryuu. But when I changed forms, you did as well, you lost more of your mind, your soul, your life. Your soul was reflected in your looks, which worked to my advantage when I found that your own brother had ran to the Leaf.**_

_Why? _Her eyes slipped shut further. The blood around her was thick and dark, all warmth lost from it as it filled her lungs, eating away the remaining warmth within her. Her heart beat once more before giving out as well. _Why would you do this to me?_

_**Get up now, or we're both dead.**_

_So sleepy..._

_**Get up Kairi!**_

_I don't want to._

_**Kairi, at least do it for Shike!**_

_Shike'll be fine._

_**Kairi!! What about your brother!?**_

_Daisuke?_

_**Kairi!!**_

_Shuddap._

"Kairi!?"

She felt two hands wrap around her and pull her from the cold blood, lifting her onto the hard ground instead. Her chest felt cold and empty, flooded with blood and devoid of air. She felt numb and cold, and her heart had stopped long ago, but she could hear voices echoing through her mind dully.

"Is she dead?"

"She's not breathing!"

"Good ridance, the last thing we need in this village is another demon."

"Shut up! Kairi!!"

Go away, she thought. Her eyelids were heavy as she floated in the darkness, but something was preventing them from closing.

"Kairi, get up!"

"Kairi?" Raiko? she thought. The voice echoed through her mind and her eyes opened slightly. There was a red light in front of her, shining annoyingly in her eyes as she looked past the darkness, still not seing anything.

"She's changed..." rasped another familiar voice laced with pain. Shike?

"Kairi! Move!!!"

Something connected with her chest once, twice, three times, over and over. She felt a rib snap under the pressure, but no pain came, just a dull snapping noise. _Stop that_, she thought vaguely, her eyes opening more. _Let me sleep_.

"She's not breathing! Sensei, what's happening!?"

"Ugh... Kairi!!"

It slammed into her chest again and she sat bolt upright, pain exploding through her mind along with the faces of numerous Leaf-nin.

"I said stop it!" she growled. She hunched over, coughing up a large amount of blood onto... into a puddle of blood. Her eyes fell upon a small, deep pool of pure blood in the middle of a large crater. She was sitting at the edge of it, the cold liquid drenching her completely, causing her raven black hair to stick to her pale skin... _Raven black hair!?_

"Izumi!"

"Kairi!"

She looked into the blood for a moment before her arms gave out and she fell back again, closing her eyes in pain. It wasn't a dream. She really had been drowning in cold blood. She almost gagged at the thought, coughing up more of the thick liquid. Some one lifted her onto another surface as instructions were barked between people, echoing through her mind with no meaning.

She opened her eyes and they focused on a familiar figure. He was wearing an Anbu uniform and his young face was strained with pain and concern, raven black locks falling loosely around his pale face. For the first time she remembered his face. Daisuke, her brother.


End file.
